


The Renegades of Pern: Down With The System, Up With My Profits!

by silveradept



Series: The Suck Fairy's Greatest Hits: The Dragonriders of Pern [16]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Ableism, Abuse, Animal Abuse, Arranged Marriage, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, Dragonriders Are Assholes, Economic Exploitation, F/M, Family Before Justice, Glass Ceilings, Lord Holders Are Assholes, Meta, Misogyny, Murder, Nonfiction, Patriarchy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sex-Negative Attitudes, Sexism, Swearing, Torture, Toxic Masculinity, Verbal Abuse, honor before reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 38,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23940418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: A commentary read with excerpts of The Renegades of Pern, a work of the Ninth Pass of Pern, part of the Dragonriders of Pern novels.
Relationships: Aramina/Jayge Lilcamp (Dragonriders of Pern), Jancis/Piemur (Dragonriders of Pern)
Series: The Suck Fairy's Greatest Hits: The Dragonriders of Pern [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1663699
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9





	1. Social Discontent

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Director's Cut of meta originally posted at [Slacktiverse](https://slacktiverse.wordpress.com).
> 
> Content notes for each chapter are in their respective posts, and all content notes in the work are in the tags.
> 
> Director's commentary will be rendered _[in a manner like this.]_

Hello again! It's 1989, according to my copyright date for the electronic copy of this book, which means we've advanced a good long time since the publication of the original novels. There's a new Spoiler Data introduction now, so let's start with that.

**The Renegades of Pern: Introduction and Prologue: Content Notes: Ableism, Sexism, Arranged Marriages, Murder, Abuse, Animal Abuse**

Rather than talking about the long colony ship and Landing and the heroics there, it's a much more practical issue about the presence of Thread, its weaknesses, the creation of dragons, their special status and powers, and the eventual division into the three castes and the forgetting of their origins. To set the stage for our current book, however, we appear to be stuck in a time of the [Idiot Ball](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IdiotBall).

> There were long intervals, too, when no Thread ravaged the land, when the dragonriders in their Weyrs kept faith with their mighty friends until they would be needed once more to protect the people they were pledged to serve.  
>  One such long interval is coming to a close at the opening of our story; though with a decade to go before another Pass of the Red Star, few are yet aware of its ominous approach. Indeed, few believe Thread will ever fall again. And in the false comfort of that belief, people have grown complacent. With that complacency, discord has arisen in Hold and Hall, setting in motion a chain of events that results in renegades on Pern!

I realize that four hundred years is a long time to maintain vigilance against a threat that doesn't materialize. The United States has enough trouble with the knowledge of the devastation wrought by an atomic weapon, and that's only been seventy years or so. And that's with documentation and education about the horror of atomic weapons. Pern has time-shifting dragonriders and Harpers who are supposed to be the Keepers of a static social order and the some source of approved education, so they would supposedly have an easier time of keeping things in mind. Or bringing back proof that Thread will come again, since Moreta proved you could go forward in time as well as back.

The reason that this hasn't happened, though, as the prologue opens, is because this is the end time of the Long Interval during the reign of Fax, where there is but one Weyr, Benden, and it is, at best, understaffed because Lessa has brought forward the other Weyrs to the time where they are needed. We are running a prologue somewhat concurrently with an already-written novel, and that makes my retcon hairs stand on end. It's not near Fax, but instead focuses on Lemos Hold (so they're villains) where Felleck is being given the boot for not coming up with a satisfactory tithe, despite all the help that Lord Gedenase has provided to him of better grain, working tools, and even an animal to help plow fields. Felleck, as he leaves, sees the new tenants of his hold already arriving, and swears revenge for everyone at Lemos for his humiliation. There's a quick time shift as Fax's successful campaign spreads and other Holds put defenses up on their borders, before the action spirals down to...Barla and Dowell, who we just met in the previous story, receiving the messenger troop that started their trek away from their home to avoid the lewd advances of Fax and his men, which Barla does at this point because she's already pregnant.

> "Fax is Lord Holder of Ruatha?" Dowell muttered. "Lord Kale was in excellent health when..." He trailed off, shaking his head.  
>  "They murdered him. I know it. That Fax! I heard about that jumped-up High Reacher. He married Lady Gemma, and it was an unpopular hurried wedding. That much the harpers said...quietly. They called him ambitious, ruthless." Barla shuddered at the thought. "Could be have murdered all in Ruatha Hold? His lady? Lessa and her brothers?" She turned scared eyes on him, her expression bleak.

Lessa mentioned by name seems weird, especially for second cousins once removed, as they are, but maybe it's a thing about the royal family of Ruatha.

I note the swiftness of which Fax's legitimacy is discarded as a person who is not of proper Blood, but instead an ambitious and ruthless foreigner. And also that the Harpers, who presumably would have control over such things, have legitimized the marriage and only speak quietly of their concerns. Admittedly, Fax would probably kill all of them for suggesting such a thing, but this is one of those situations where a more closely defined idea of how Pern's feudalism works would help. We've had Craft walkouts threatened and done in Moreta / Nerilka, so there's precedent, and the Harpers, as historians, would know of this. I'm surprised that this time, there isn't extra data about the general lack of Craft anything in Fax's territory, as the rest of the allied Holds try to starve him out or inspire rebellion.

_[With hindsight, I also notice that "jumped-up" is a very common insult among the Pernese to talk about the lack of legitimacy of rulers, since it seems to be a signifier of someone reaching beyond their station to seize power. It's an interesting phrasing, because I don't really know what the origin of the phrase is. And I have more to say about how, if Fax is indeed illegitimate, that it shouldn't be hard to depose him, but I'd be getting ahead of my past self.]_

Anyway, after Dowell and Barla resolve to leave, we skip up five Turns to a man named Dushik being punished for killing his third man in drunken brawling. Lord Oterel delivers the punishment and tells his steward to set Dushik loose in Fax's territory. Then seven Turns after Fax attacks, the narrative anticipates my questions about the Harpers.

> After seven Turns, Fax's usurpation has become more or less accepted -- except by the Harper Hall. The Masterharper, Robinton, had been hearing unsettling reports from his harpers that make him mistrust this uneasy peace. Fax is ambitious, and with all but Ruatha Hold prospering under his harsh management, it is entirely possible that he will look eastward, to the broad and fertile plains and the mines of Telgar. As if aware of Harper Hall scrutiny, Fax has begun to turn harpers out of his Holds and Halls for the most spurious reasons. Whatever teachings the harpers have provided, Fax says, the young will learn from his deputies. He has challenged authority -- and succeeded. What will he challenge next?

I am unimpressed with Robinton at this point, considering how much the other books have made him to be an excellent spy master and very set in his ways that the Harpers are the education system and inviolable. That Robinton has let Fax exist for seven years and be able to have prosperous Holds suggests that nobody is actually doing anything to try and remove Fax from power. Despite the armed presence on Fax's borders from all of his neighbors that are not feeling secure about their borders. If nobody considers Fax legitimate, then it should be no trouble at all to raise an alliance of soldiers and Crafters and rebellious subjects and overthrow Fax. Instead, because of the previous books' requirement that Lessa trick the Benden Weyrleader into killing Fax, before being usurped herself by Jaxom, it makes it sound like everyone is cool with what Fax has been doing, like the old Randian rules of sovereignty still apply all these thousands of years later. If we're going to keep Fax, we really need to have some reason why everyone isn't ganging up on him. The fact that he controls the remaining dragon Weyr and nobody knows whether the dragonriders will fly at his command would be a really good one.

_[The comments suggest that nobody moved against Fax because they were expecting the dragonriders to kill him swiftly for reaching beyond his station, but because the previous Weyrleader was an isolationist, it never happened. For my own point, because Pern is nominally areligious, it also takes away the option of having clerics declare that Fax is illegitimate and that anyone who is a member of the holy Church of the Dragonrider should kill Fax to receive the favor of the dragonriders on them. Although, at this point, the Harpers, with the roles that they have, would function as that clergy quite nicely, and while he should have been calling for Fax's head long before this, once Fax started expelling and hurting Harpers, Robtinton would have had more than ample cause to both call for Fax's head and start working toward removing it from his shoulders. Even if only indirectly by inciting his neighbors to go raid in his territory and eventually kill his soldiers and Fax or make things so miserable for Fax's loyalists that revolts happen and Fax dies that way, too. After all, Robinton will continue to be painted as a master manipulator and very good at getting other people to do what he wants, so while we know the narrative says it has to be Lessa, Robintion should long since have been able to get rid of Fax. There will be additional swearing when we get to Masterharper and another detail about the time where Fax gets killed gets added.]_

Anyway, this segment is about Toric also defying family authority and leaving High Palisades Island to make his own fortune on the mainland of Pern. Since he will eventually become Southern Holder, clearly Toric was able to overcome any punishment or sanction he would have received by leaving the Fisherman's Hall.

There's a quick paragraph, advancing time again, about a woman, Keita, who stole a loaf of bread, considered more than she needs, and is going to be turned out and made holdless in the middle of winter, with the final punctuation being that the wife thinks Keita is a slut. An entirely unnecessary slur, and again, positioned so that it comes out of the mouth of another woman. Which is then followed by another about a fisherman being turned out for being "footless", meaning either amputated or otherwise malformed, as the clock advances another year. This time, though, someone recognizes the ableism.

> "Now let's not be bitter, fisherman. I'm doing my best for you. It's a tough enough life for an ablebodied man, let alone..."  
>  "Say it, Masterfisherman, say it. Let alone for a cripple!"  
>  "I wish you wouldn't be so bitter!"  
>  "Leave it to me, then, Master, and get back to your ablebodied fisherfolk! You'll be missing the tide if you wait too long!"

Points to the author for recognizing ableism, and if they were living in the States at the time, they did it a year before the Americans With Disabilities act that we know of gets passed. Including the part where the able-bodied one accuses the disabled one of being bitter about being discriminated against. Less, of course, for the sexism right before it, but this is pretty much a great example of the reasons intersectionality exists. In any case, another holdless person.

The next two vignettes advance another year and are about people who believe in the return of Thread outside of the dragonriders in their single Weyr, and the stewards and Holders that want to squelch such "gossip". A fruit picker bribes the steward to stay the winter, rather than have to go back to Ruatha or on to Keroon. A traveling craftsman discusses logistics with a crafter in a Hold about what to do if Thread returns. They make a wager about it. 

The clock moves forward again, to beyond the death of Fax and the resurgence of the remaining Weyr, but there's a power vacuum to be filled with Fax gone, and the displaced are going back to make their profit. An artist gives their goodbye.

Two more Turns advance and we finally get to one of the major players in the last story - Lady Thella, the older sister of Lord Larad of Telgar.

> "Larad, I'm your sister--your **older** sister!...you will **not** marry me off to some niggardly, foul-mouthed, snaggle-toothed senile old man, just because Father agreed to such a travesty in his dotage."

I should note at this time that the narrative has already classed Thella as "rebellious" before we began this segment, and that Larad is "trying to make a suitable disposition" for her. Because the world they live in prizes sons and not daughters and uses their daughters as pawns without thinking about it, and the women are supposed to just accept this as their lot in life and not complain.

Anyway...

> "Derabal is not senile or snaggle-toothed, and at thirty-four he is scarcely old." Larad replied behind clenched teeth. Being a brother, even half-brother, he did not appreciate the defiant stance of her magnificently proportioned body, athletic and fit in her riding gear. To him, the high color in her cheeks, the flash of her hazel eyes, and the contemptuous curve of her sensuous mouth meant merely another stormy session with her. It did not help that she was within a half span of his own height, so that in the high-heeled long riding boots she preferred she was eye-to-eye with him. At that moment he would have liked to throttle her challenge and reduce her to compliance with the good beating that was long overdue. But Lord Holders did not thrash dependent kinswomen.

_[There's your first cocowhat, one of many for this work.]_

AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ** _NO_**.

Lord Holders thrash their dependents all the time. Yanus proved that, and really, all of Menolly and Piemur's adventures pretty much give the lie to that. And Jaxom, too, and the Benden Weyrleader proves it's not just the Holders. 

As we get into the description of Thella, we find her cut in much the same mold as Kylara, Menolly, and Mirrim, women who are not taking their assigned lot in life lying down. The narrative is working overtime to make Thella out to be wrong for this, describing how much Thella was encouraged to defy convention, learning hunting, riding, and exporting. Thella challenged Larad's right to become Lord Holder, since she was the oldest child of her father. The Lord Holders "politely, in most cases, and dismissively in others, told to take her 'rightful' place with her stepmother, sisters, and aunts." Thella has no intention of marrying someone she considers beneath her as a minor holder, and definitely not going as "a meekly submissive bride."

_[There's a certain amount of "oh, if you only knew" involved with this, as the Todd books will mention a Lady Nerra, who became Lord after the Lord of Crom was both coward and drunkard while a plague raged around him, and we'll find out that Fiona was raised to take over as Lord of Fort from her father, Bemin, because she was the sole remaining child of Bemin's after the Plague ravaged the family. Although Bemin admits that it would have been a hard sell, it wouldn't have been impossible. Oh, and also, there's all of the Smiths who are women that are ascending to masterships, even though when we go back to the Second Pass, Silstra and others are seen as headwomen to take care of the men and their bodily needs, instead of being more fully integrated into Smith life._

_Which is to say, later books will establish a precedent that Thella could have theoretically drawn upon, if the Records still existed and survived to the Ninth Pass. Not that the Lords, being the sexists that they are, would have allowed Thella to go through. They might have even legitimately objected to how she treats animals and people, but they would have at least had to work harder than "she's a girrrrrrrrrrrrrrl" as the reason why they couldn't possibly accept her.]_

Things that _are_ warning flags for Thella: She was not chastised for beating a drudge to death, but was taken to task for running a runnerbeast to death. (Because animals are more important than people here.) Both of those things are significant flags of a cruel streak. Which is confirmed by the way she treats the drudges after being told to go away from the Lords Holder - "The drudges bore new lash marks daily as she vented her frustration, and some fled the main Hold on any pretext they could invent."

So Larad has had enough, and locks Thella in her bedroom. Thella disappears the next day with runnerbeasts, riding gear, food, equipment, and quite a bit of cash from the Hold.

Right at the end, after Thread falls, and a suspicious string of thefts from merchants traveling a specific road, one of Thella's sisters, Fira, suspects she knows who is masterminding it. Larad, however, is pretty pig-headed about it and chooses to blame only those who are holdless or dissenters or the expelled, the [title drop!] renegades of Pern.

Thus ends our prologue.

Here's the thing. Just knowing this little bit about Thella makes me reinterpret The Girl Who Heard Dragons. Instead of being a Fax-like person who styled themselves as a leader and planned on exploiting a population for their own profits or advancement, Thella is now a woman fighting the society that wants to marry her off and have her be controlled by a man. Aramina's skill as a dragon-talker is an integral part of succeeding at that plan, so that Thella can avoid patrols and Threadfall, and possibly gather intelligence about where is the best place to camp to survive and what caravans will be coming through so that she can keep supplied. Thella is potentially building a place for herself and others where they can live properly free lives outside the constricting social structures of their world.

The more I think about it, Pern stories that aren't set in the First Pass have a pattern. The characters are in a social role they are poorly suited to, they end up in a situation where they are able to step outside that role, and then they reintegrate, to greater or lesser degrees, back into that society, depending on whether their new roles are a better fit or not. Lessa is better as a Weyrwoman, although still subjected to the Benden Weyrleader. Menolly is now a Harper, Jaxom and Mirrim dragonriders, and Piemur an explorer. Unfortunately, Brekke was put through the wringer and Kylara got killed, so it's not a perfect match for these things, but Brekke and Kylara were also sacrificed to make a point about sexual behavior and trying to fit your role or step completely beyond it. So Thella is going to fit the pattern, I'm guessing, in the Avril/Kylara method where her disobedience to her assigned husband and rejection of her social role will result in her harm and being put under the control of men. And, most likely, the narrative will take every opportunity it can to remind us of what kind of horrible, horrible person she is for doing this. Despite having also set up for us that she has cruelty issues that could easily make her a horrible person to be in charge of anybody.

Time to find out whether I'm going to be right, yet again.

_[I am. Which is a real pain in the ass, because by giving Thella the plotline of "people who are rebelling against the patriarchy and angling for a more egalitarian society", they make the plot itself seem terrible. This problem then repeats itself with the anti-AIVAS faction, where all teh people who are part of that group end up being Malevolent Evil, and so the reader doesn't get the opportunity to go, "hang on a bit, they've got a point, why can't we have a clash of ideas on Pern?" If I were feeling snarky, I'd say that the authors realized that just about any competing philosophy would win against their self-interested Randian paradise, even if it were only a mild improvement, like mercantile capitalism. Because it would.]_


	2. The Stuff of Nightmares

Last time, we were introduced to a Rogue's Gallery of holdless characters and a potential leader for some of them, Thella. The holdless are a mix of those displaced by greed, turned out over jealousy, ditched for disability, shunned for crimes, and those that refuse to go quietly into arranged marriages. It's as good an underclass as any you could create, but since we've been seeing things from the aristocracy's view, both drudges and holdless are curiously absent until needed for the plot. Hopefully this time, we'll actually get to see how they live and the reasons why they might decide to rebel against a caste system.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter One: Content Notes: Asshole Riders, Exploitative Holders**

(Present Pass, First Turn, Third Month, Fourth Day - 3.4.01)

Not immediately, though. Instead, we get Jayge Lilcamp (descended, no doubt, from Joel Lillenkamp) grinning about having a horse that looks clumsy but wins races and a sufficiently large stash of "credit bits, almost enough to trade for a saddle when next their wagons encountered those of the Plater clan." Which suggests that yes, there is scrip and alternative currencies already at work at Pern, adding even more confusion to the economy and how things get paid for and exchanged and who sets up the currency baskets and arghlebargle keyboard smash. Apparently everyone mints their own money and this is somehow okay.

_[By the way, the name Jayge is pronounced J.G., apparently, like the initialism, because it is based on a person that Anne knew. I read it as something different for a very long time. Also, the sheer number of currencies floating about on Pern is mind-boggling! It's the kind of thing I would expect from a group of autocrats who have no interest in cooperating with each other, but we also supposedly have each of the guilds with their own currencies as well, and it either has to be terrible to have to carry around all of these currencies, or there's a secret guild of moneychangers that never get mentioned (the closest that ever happens is "bank with a Bitran"). At this point, it's okay that the money is a handwave, because any serious attempt to explain it at this point would involve **so much WTF**.]_

And yes, Jayge is totally a Lillenkamp just from that stunt involving horses and laying odds. He's also part of a family of traveling merchants that are reputed to be honest, and that carry goods to small Holds, some of them without the Crafthall stamp for those that need cheaper things. They're breaking camp and moving on today, despite Jayge's desire to bilk a few more unsuspecting characters out of their cash. It's time for the once-every-five-years trip to Keroon to sell off the lumber they've been logging. Jayge hates bullies and those cruel to animals, which we learn because the boy he wrestled (who was bullying little ones to do his chores) and beat last night was flicking a whip at him repeatedly, missing every time, but coming close every time. There some nice idling over the scenery that wouldn't be out of place for a Western before a messenger from the Hold just left catches up to them and urges them to come back at all speed - a Harper message warning everyone that Thread is falling again, with witnesses having seen it and the dragonriders over Nerat.

As befitting someone who hasn't seen Thread in their lifetime, or several lifetimes before that, Crenden, the wagon leader, dismisses it.

> Again Crenden laughed, not at all dismayed, although Jayge felt a spasm of cold uncertainty shiver down his spine. Crenden rolled the message up again and thrust it back at the boy. "Thank your father, lad. The warning is well meant, but I'm not felling for it." He winked at the boy good-naturedly. "I know your father'd like us to help finish that new level in the hold. Thread, indeed! There hasn't been Thread in these skies for generations. Hundreds of Turns. Like the legends told us, it's gone now. And we'd best be going now, too." With a cheerful salute to the astonished boy, Crenden stood in his stirrups and roared out, "Roll 'em!"  
>  There was such a look of total dismay and fear in the lad's face that Jayge wondered if his father could possibly have misread the message. Thread! The very word caused Jayge to squirm in his saddle, and Fairex danced under him in response.  
>  [...Jayge argues with himself...]  
>  Holder Childon was not the sort to play jokes; a straight man, he said what he meant and meant what he said. Crenden had often described him so. Childon was a good deal straighter than some holders who looked down on trains as feckless folk little better than thieves, too lazy to carve out a hold for themselves and too arrogant to be beholden to a lord.

I wonder if this chilly feeling for Jayge is like the thrill or chill one is supposed to receive upon hearing The Name of Aslan. Those who believe rightly and are afraid of Thread will be terrified by its name. The rest, of course, will die or be saved by the dragonriders and convert immediately.

Also, it appears the wagon trains all have at least some of the original prejudice against the Tinkers and other nomads that ended up surviving Threadfall. Despite the fact that they are the only way that goods move around Pern with any speed, save dragonriders, who would never deign to be cargo transport except in emergencies. As far as I know, there are no truly self-sufficient Holds, so they should all be a lot more appreciative for the wagon trains.

Jayge reminisces about Crenden explaining to him why he should let insults roll off his back, which fights to take on, and the great joy that someone gets from wandering the world. Before noticing the grey storm rolling in from the east. Crenden, for as much as he disbelieved a person he considered fundamentally honest and trustworthy, is able to come to the correct conclusion when presented with direct evidence and the flashes of dragon flame, and orders the entire wagon train to ditch their cargo and head for the nearest deep pool to submerge themselves and their mounts in. Much as Jayge isn't quite sure that will work, but it's also having to deal with the utterly natural panic that happens when a thing that's supposed to be gone returns. (Even though, as readers, we have seen Piemur manage a similar stunt already, and Sean and Sorka did it again when first noticing Thread. Seems to be a running thing.)

> But a pool? That was no real shelter from Threadfall. Jayge knew the Teaching songs as well as any kid of Pern, and it was stone walls and stout metal shutters that one needed during Threadfall.  
>  [...Jayge heads for the water...]  
>  He kept watching the banks and the track, hoping that he might notice a rock ledge or even a burrow. They could put the babies in the burrows. How long did a Fall last? Jayge was so agitated that he could not bring the Traditional Duty ballads to mind.  
>  [...seeing no other options, Jayge tests the pool for suitability as the rest of the train can be heard thundering down...]  
>  Jayge kept his eyes on the cloud as he raced back. What were those gouts of flame? It looked like thousands of flameflies, the nocturnal creatures he and his friends had tried to capture in Nerat's lush jungles. And then he realized what he was seeing. Dragons! Benden Weyr's dragonriders were flying Thread! As dragonriders should! As dragonriders always had and now were again, protecting Pern from Threadfall. Jayge felt a surge of relief that was instantly overwhelmed by confusion. If the dragonriders were already flaming Thread from the skies, why would the traders need the river pool?  
>  "Worlds are lost or worlds are saved, by those dangers dragon-braved?" The verse sprang to Jayge's mind, but it was not the one he wanted. "Lord of the hold, your charge is sure, in thick walls, metal doors, and no verdure." But Lilcamp folk were holdless.

Creatures that now exist on Pern - fireflies. One would assume there is a vibrant insect life on the planet, of course, but as in many stories, the insects are just part of the noise, unless they need to be present for some plot reason.

More interestingly, a couple lines from a teaching song! Which apparently includes a word for "green" that hasn't seen a lot of use in the time of the writing, much less in the far future that Pern is supposed to be set in. With the way that Pernese grammar and word construction is, I'm chalking this up to "the plot needed a rhyme" and chanting the MST3K mantra rather than trying to figure out how a word like that would survive two thousand years of culture that doesn't seem inclined to use language in that way.

That said, this feels like an appropriate amount of panic and confusion for someone confronted with the idea that the thing of their nightmares is actually true. Including the nice contrast of "I know my teaching songs as well as anybody" and yet being unable to recall them without additional effort, and recalling wrong to start with. This is why people drill on unlikely but dangerous situations, such that if they should happen, the information is set far enough into the mind and body that it doesn't require much effort to recall.

In any case, the entire wagon train makes it to the pool before Thread catches up to them. Cue everyone trying hard to stay under the water, getting to see the destruction that Thread wreaks firsthand, and then this:

> Suddenly a fountain of flame washed across the spot. He saw the long, twisting **thing** in the center of the flame turn black and burn quickly, adding an oily yellow smoke to the clean fire. Jayge almost missed seeing the dragon at all, he was so caught by the terror of the Thread burrow. But the dragon hovered briefly, to be sure if the destruction, so Jayge caught sight of the huge golden body as the dragon - gold was for queens, wasn't it? - beat strongly upward and flamed again, farther up the hill. There was another dragon farther down the river valley, another good. But someone had told him that gold dragons did not fly. And there was only the one queen in Benden Weyr.

Ah, there's a temporal reference point. Multiple queens throwing fire means that Lessa has already jumped back in time to bring the remaining Weyrs forward, causing the decline of the Weyrs that will make it more difficult for Benden in the next four hundred Turns.

I'm also interested in the way this is described. Because queens aren't supposed to be able to use and chew firestone (fuck you very much, Kitti Ping), this queen unit must be equipped with flamethrowers. Yet the narrative describes _the dragon_ as flaming, rather than noticing the rider as flaming or the flames originating from somewhere other than the dragon's mouth. Some of this can be chalked up to Jayge not being completely observant due to the panic, but just a little while ago, the scene happening is described as "forever etched in his mind", suggesting that his recall would be accurate and unaltered.

I'm sure this is an inconsistency that has no more Doylist reason than "this work could have used an editor", but it does make for intriguing possibilities of gold dragon biology, that they might be able to overcome their inability to use firestone in truly emergency situations. If Jayge is accurate in describing the dragon as having flamed, instead of Jayge misattributing the flamethrower fire to the dragon. And since flamethrower equipment is heavy and bulky, from what we've seen in Moreta, it seems likely that it would be observed as the source of the fire.

As it is, Jayge's focus has to become more immediate as he deals with Thread hissing into the water near him and trying to protect himself and Fairex from getting hit by falling Thread, so a full fifteen minutes of fighting for his life happens, because the time-shifted dragonriders don't usually flame over things that are going to kill Thread anyway. (Yes, it uses the same slur as before, Oldtimer, which Jayge should learn about much later than this point in time.)

The casualties, as one might expect, are numerous, both in trader train, their goods, and the forests around them. As the wagon train is recovering what goods and people are still left, Fairex bolting for no apparent reason signals the appearance of a brown rider, who mistakes them as a ground crew looking to mop up the rest of the Thread. And gives us more useful information.

> At first Jayge could not understand the words rattled at him. There was an odd inflection in the man's voice that startled him. The harpers kept the language from altering too much, his mother had told him when he had first encountered the slower speech of the southerners. But the voice of the dragonrider, so small up there perched between the neck ridges of the big beast, sounded strange to Jayge's ears. And the man did not look like any man Jayge had ever seen. He seemed to have huge eyes, and no hair, and leather all over. Were dragonmen different than the rest of Pern's people?  
>  [...the rider does his very best to insult everyone as an inefficient ground crew, since all he's seen to this point are boys and women...]  
>  Jayge stared, aware of many details that he would recall later with cynical accuracy; except that the rider wore his hair cropped close to his scalp, he was like any other man. Under other circumstances and with later knowledge, Jayge might have forgiven him his irasciblity, and even some of his scathing disapproval. But not that day.

This is going to end badly, and the rider isn't helping by treating the train as if they were drudges, then as if they were insane not to heed the warning, and as if they were a horrible ground crew. And for what he didn't do to protect them from Thread. Even though he only knows the name of the dragon, Rimbeth, Crenden swears revenge once the dragon and rider are on their way, and Jayge is likely ready to assist in that.

Also, what the hell is this about the Harpers trying to keep the language from changing, so much so that a regional dialect, accent, or an older variation is seen as a horrible thing? We've discussed reasons before why the Harpers are doing their best impression of an Orwellian Ministry of Truth, but all of those reasons basically have to do with a stated and strong desire to keep the population stupid and exploitable.

*beat for comedic effect*

Seriously, though, what's a good reason for the Harpers trying to keep the language and its pronunciation from drift? Are they worried someone is going to develop a Geordie and become supposedly incomprehensible? Do they have secret Harper lore about how the vaunted technology of the Ancients was powered by the voices of those that could commune with it? Are they using it so that they can fulfill the overt charge of the colony that everything stay low tech, pastoral, and static by restricting the language so that concepts like electricity can't be thought of, much less captured in a Leyden jar and used to power a telegraph? There has to be a reason that makes sense in the context of the society, and we had three books set in the Harper Hall to have it disclosed. Assuming that the person writing thought that far ahead. We've spanned nearly twenty years of writing up to this point, so it's entirely possible the entire series has always been working on a wing and a prayer, but the more we go along, the more likely these things are going to request to be resolved.

Once salvage is completed and the full extent of the damage known, there's a thought of returning to Kimmage Hold. Unfortunately, when they get there, Childon, the Lord Holder, gives them a really raw deal of being able to bed in the beasthold, having to be ground crew, and really not providing a whole lot of anything for them. Readis leaves soon after, and Crenden's wife's sickness keeps them there until she dies that summer, when Jayge and all the others are out as the ground crew.

That's Chapter One. A casual reader might notice all the reasons why someone might be more than a bit miffed at the way things have turned out - a disaster on a planetary scale just rendered more than a few people without any goods, few possessions, and with nobody around willing to help them, only exploit them. If the author were trying to set this story up as the how a resistance came into being to overthrow the Lords Holder and their dragonrider allies because they exploited the population underneath them in the wake of a tragedy, this would be an excellent setup. Since this is Pern, however, which has traditionally had no interest in the lives of the proletariat, I'm thinking Jayge is a decoy protagonist of some sort, another in the Rogue's Gallery, as a setup for whom the real person is that will be driving the narrative.

Tune in next week to find out if I'm right. It would be a shame if I were, and if this book turns out to be the scathing critique of the feudal society that Pern has become.

_[I am not right here. Jayge is, indeed, the protagonist of this story. And there's no scathing critique of Pern, either, other than the one that I'm trying to give, and that's not really scathing as much as it is headscratching.]_


	3. Rob From The Rich...To Enhance Myself

Last time, the dreaded Threadfall returned to Pern after a long Interval, and we got to experience it from the perspective of a terrified wagon train, who were attacked and then abused by both the dragonrider that helped them and the Holder that took them in after Thread destroyed nearly everything they had. This continues to be in the vein of showing us how people end up holdless or enslaved and ready for rebellion. Being Pern, however, the other shoe, where we find out how evil the people organizing the holdless are, has yet to drop.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Two - Content Notes: Sexism, Attempted Murder, Murder**

(PP 02.04.12)

That's a _ten Turn timeskip_ , by the way, and so if Jayge or any of the members of his train never show up again in a plot-important manner, that first chapter was a complete waste.

Because Chapter Two starts with Thella, who is already well into her plan to live holdless and free and raiding various Holds for supplies. And, as it turns out, to build her own Hold, where she hopes to attract others to work for her. The arrival of Thread threw off her timetable by a full Turn, and we are told that Thella did not do well with failures, and suffered a deep depression at being thwarted by nature. She appears to have recovered nicely by this point, however.

I'm also going to flag up now that Thella's ambition of having a Hold to herself is not an immediate disqualifier for being a hero of the proles, nor, necessarily, is her stealing from the Holds, but the narrative is likely not going to be sympathetic to her, so we should keep an eye on how it characterizes her actions.

Thella lucked out into finding her Hold - all of the previous residents had perished before she arrived, but they left their furniture and accessories behind. Thella knows that sometimes people die from plague, but she is willing to take the risk. There's some about the logistics of Thella's frustration and bad luck, but also some useful data.

> But the hold could have been completely reestablished and hers! Hers! If she had just held for a Turn or two. The ancient Contract Law of Pern gave her that right. She could have insisted that the Conclave of Lord Holders permit it, once she could prove her competence. Her father had told her, in answers to discreet questions, that anyone could form a hold, so long as it proved to be self-sufficient and remained well managed.

I'm sure that this is true...if you're a dude. Because Thella has already been thrown out by the Bros of the Conclave for trying to assert her birthright, I somehow doubt that she would somehow be accepted as one of the peerage just for demonstrating that she has the same capabilities that they do and is part of the bloodlines. There's really no way that Thella would be able to be a Lord Holder - or the Conclave would basically give her Hold away to the first dude that could make a claim on her, whether she consented or not. Sorry, Thella.

Also, the narrative is starting to help with turning us away from the idea that Thella is heroic and more toward the idea that she is someone's trope of a woman that is universally described as negative. First, it talks about her quest for boots and clothes, because her foot size is pretty unique, and then we get into other logistics.

> She took only new trousers and shirts, of course - not even in extremity would Thella of Telgar wear used clothing.[...]These supplies, along with the food she took, were after all no more than a modest portion of the tithe due a Lord Holder's family, so she had no compunction about her acquisitions; she merely did not wish to be seen - yet. But boots...boots were another matter, and she might have foregone principle to get decent boots.  
>  A journey to Igen Hold for a Gather would be the best way to end the footwear problem and satisfy one or two other minor needs that would fulfill the rudimentary requirements of her prospective holders. Perhaps she would be able to hire a likely herdsmen, preferably one with a family to supply her with drudges. They could camp in the beasthold section and not interfere with her privacy.

So, now it's not so much about surviving to stick it in the eye of those that want to marry her off as it is establishing her own hold to give herself the lifestyle she's accustomed to, just without a man to do it with? That's not un-feminist, I suppose, but the part where she wants to hire someone and then use their family as her unpaid servants and give them no protections against her...yeah. I think I have to abandon the idea that Thella is secretly a hero of the people, much as it was nice to have it for the first few chapters.

The narrative continues with Thella's journey to the Gather, trying not to be seen or interact with others, and her breakfast there, where she feels she is overcharged for a bad mug so that she can have a drink. It stays in her head through much of the day until she picks a rock up and chucks it behind herself at the vendor that sold it to her, striking and breaking many of his wares. Having revenged herself (and who would be willing to sell themselves into her service with a temper like that?), Thella heads to get her boots. She nearly has another fit when passed off to a journeyman, but the deferential attitude of her cobbler soothes her, and soon enough Thella has a couple pairs of boots and a third on the way. She notices that there's a large gathering of the holdless just outside the formal Gather, including a large aloof man that has some money to spend. She hides her purse a bit more securely, and muses on how appropriate it is for everyone to be worthy of the shelter being provided to them against Thread, essentially endorsing the exploitative practice of Holders during Fall. Since she expects to be one, I suspect. If she had no expectation of being on the top, I would hope her attitude would shift sufficiently.

Also, I realize that the book promises us only the Renegades of Pern, but it would have been nice to have a viewpoint character for the whole book that wasn't from the aristocracy. Thella is still trying to be an aristocrat, even though she doesn't have all the means yet. It would be so much better to have, say, Jayge, who has never been part of the societal system, to help us with the outside perspective and critique of the system. Thella wants to replicate it. Jayge wants revenge against it. His story is the one I want told, so, so much more. Or Thella's quest to dismantle the system instead of replicate it.

Thella continues to study the holdless, thinking she can exploit their fear to get them to come to her hold and have at least shelter. She hears about Lessa's time hop and gets very pissed off about the presence and attitude of the time-shifted dragonriders not being properly deferential, nor Benden riders being too eager to please.

Thella collects her boots, and then goes to find a place for a nap while the heat rages on. Then wakes up to someone trying to cut the purse of the person next to her, _stabs them in the thigh with her knife_ , causing them to flee, and then chastises the possible victim for having their purse displayed too obviously. Who then flirts with her and offers her money for her companionship for the evening. Thella thinks it's a good idea, while planning to knock the man out and rob him of his purse and more. She spots the big man again as he snags a piece of meat that's fallen and runs off with it to consume it.

The person she thinks of as an easy mark turns out to be running a con to get women drunk, lure them away from the Gather, kill them, and take their money. Thella, trusting her suspicions, ends up shoving the mark into the path of the killer's blade, and then she overpowers the killer. With her weapon ready to kill him, he tells her about the plan, and basically begs her to either kill him or offer him shelter in a Hold, which he will repay with great loyalty. Thella accepts.

It's Dushik, the man excluded for fighting, and he gratefully accepts the task of finding loyal people among the holdless for her. Thella has her first vassal, and thus ends Chapter Two.

Well, the narrative has definitely removed any hope we had of Thella being a great person getting a raw deal in the stories. Which annoys me, because it's right there as a possibility. Perhaps not as easy to do in 1989. Or in a world that has been little more than contemptuous for women who have tried to go beyond their assigned role in life. But it's right there, all the same.

_[Certanly was doable, as the comments put it, so no excuse. And at this point, Thella really is a wasted character. She could very well be used in a Robin Hood role, someone who is determined to take apart the system that screwed her, rather than trying to replicate it for herself, or in any other way other than the spoiled princess trope. Even as keeping her a villain, there's so much more that her characterization could be than what's been chosen for her.]_


	4. Southern Strategy

Last time, Thella got boots, supplies, and a minion to go recruiting for her, while she also thoroughly demonstrated to us that she is no more fit to be running a Hold than the jokers that currently are running them. Which is not a compliment.

Speaking of...

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Three - Content Notes: None to speak of**

...Chapter Three opens with Mardra complaining to Toric about the incident where Piemur stowed away in a shipment to Southern and then snuck off.

(PP 11.04.06)

So we've stepped backward in time for this chapter. So hopefully these narrative threads will all converge in the right place and time and show us why we've been following all these people.

Mardra is unhappy about the shipment issues, so much that she slops her wine and then calls a drudge to wipe it up before the "fly-bys" come by. More insect life for Pern.

The actual viewpoint character here is Saneter, the Harper assigned to Southern by Robinton, who relies on him for discretion while briefing him about Southern Weyr and Hold's past, and charging him with making sure he reports out any conflicts that develop in the area. (T'ron is T'ton here, too.)

We are treated to Sharra's insight that Mardra fancied Toric, who wants nothing to do with her, and that rejection has hardened into a desire from Mardra to humiliate and demean Toric. Mardra complains that her fire-lizard queen saw someone sneak away and demands that Toric look at her when being spoken to, for which Toric moves his head fractionally.

> After four Turns of dealing with the disaffected [time-skipped] Saneter found their decline increasingly painful to deal with. Mardra had become a raddled, blowsy old woman, constantly wine-sotted; and T'kul, stringy with age and potbellied, spent his time endlessly recounting spectacular Falls which he had seemingly charred with only his dragon Salth's aid.  
>  "Look **at** me," Mardra repeated, command still ringing in her voice, her eyes piercingly intent on the holder. Again his head moved fractionally, and Saneter, judging by the furious set of the Weyrwoman's lips, suspected that Toric had adopted his very disconcerting habit of seeming to look right through her. "She saw someone. Someone who shouldn't have been there. Someone who tampered with that sack. Those were Crafthall tithes to this Weyr, and I hold you, all of you -" for the first time she glanced at all the other Masters who had been summoned with Toric "- responsible for any losses. Now hop it out of here!"  
>  There was a murmur of righteous protest from the other Masters - farmer, fisher, herdsman, and tanner. Saneter, too, would have backed any retaliation. Craftsmen had the right to withdraw their services from a holder - and, by law, from a Weyr, though such an extreme action had never been recorded.

The narrative is very good at making sure we know who is heroic and who isn't - people with complex motivations that are functional doesn't seem to be part of the oeuvre here. At the same time, Mardra being chastised for drinking and T'kul for reminiscing is a bit incongruous with the part where they were both exiled to Southern for not getting with the program. Being excluded doesn't give you many options on what to do with your life, y'know?

I'd also like to know where and what the code of laws is for Pern. So far, we know there was a charter, and some amount of lawmaking by the colonial government, even though their intent was basically to let everyone else be lord and sovereign of their own plots. I presume the laws of the various Holds and Weyrs, as they are created by their autocrats, are recorded in some form (the Records?) and promulgated in some way. I would also presume that the proceedings of the conclaves of the Lords Holder are also recorded and promulgated, so that when it comes time to remind everyone of the obligations they agreed on, there's a written record to refer back to. But that's only for the Holders. Is there a similar process for Craft proceedings and laws, and the decisions of the Weyrs and their Weyrleaders when they meet? Who records and enforces these laws and obligations? The Harpers? Since there's no overarching system of government on the planet, it seems impossible to talk about laws that apply to everyone, even those steeped in TRADITION! (Tradition!) 

_[There's no actual confirmation of any of this speculation, I might add, in any of the books that I've read up to this point, so we have no idea of how laws are actually put out so that the population knows about them. Admittedly, we also don't have any lawyers, at least not until we have them suddenly appear ex nihilo and the narrative wants us to believe they have been there the whole time, in the guise of Harpers.]_

The right of rebellion only works if the Holders or Weyrleaders actually respect that and the Crafters have sufficient power to break the functioning of the hold by striking. We've already seen plenty of goods at Gathers that lack the Craft stamp on them - there would probably be more than enough enterprising merchants willing to smuggle or funnel goods into a Hold that was currently under lock. Weyrs would just take what they wanted (as they are now, in this story) because, oh, right, mounted weapons of war and destruction. The only walkout we've actually seen happen so far was the Healer and Harper punishment of Tolocamp for not helping the medics during plague, and that only worked, really, because of the worldwide pandemic. While it would be interesting to write what consequence came of actually telling the Weyr that no Craft product would come to them, the conclusion is foregone, really.

The narrative has the grumbles of the Crafters, but the tanner points out the obvious problem - dragons - and everyone subsides. Saneter attributes it to the fact that "dragonrider inviolability was deeply ingrained in them all - even a renegade holder like Toric", but it sounds very suspiciously like everyone came to the real conclusion and nobody actually wants to say it. The Crafters and Toric complain about being treated with less than the respect they deserve over things they don't know about, and Toric shreds shade fronds in his fury.

Unfortunately, it looks like Robinton's briefing was less than complete, because Saneter is distressed about loyalties and doesn't understand why the Southern Weyrleaders want Toric replaced, which basically results in Saneter mentally declaring full loyalty to Toric against the Weyr. Toric declares, likely as a revenge, that anyone turning over fire lizard eggs to the time-shifted dragonriders is immediately subject to exile from Southern. Dragondrums told us that the trade of fire lizard eggs from the South was a very lucrative enterprise, and Saneter confirms this while contemplating whether or not to tell Robinton about this latest fracas.

> The amount of marks offered for the contents of a gold fire-lizard queen's nest was more than most holders earned over three or four good Turns. Granted, not that many gold nests were generally located, but the demand for the creatures always seemed to increase. [...] He had also told Master Robinton that the [time-shifted] were exacting far more than a normal tithe, and that the deliveries did not occur at the customary times or by the usual carriers: it had been moon-dark last night. And he had not seen a single dragon active that morning. But why would Toric forbid his holders to sell fire-lizard eggs to the Weyr?  
>  On the other hand, Saneter decided, a long account of that day's incident, when viewed in a calmer frame of mind, was nothing to bother the already burdened Masterharper.

Even though this is exactly the thing that Robinton wants Saneter to report on. He'll have a far more reliable agent in Piemur, now, but Piemur's not ready to check in at the moment. Of course, we don't really want to judge Saneter too harshly, as he's stuck in a situation where everybody he's supposed to be keeping tabs on is abusing him in some way.

The arrival of a ship at port brightens Toric's mood, as it brings a family member with a Mastersmith designation, according to Sharra. Who is described as being valued for her ability to settle Toric down, and also for her healing skills, in that order. Glad we know what the priorities are, there.

Also arriving on the ship are many more holdless, who will be set to work expanding the available space for Southern Hold to grow into and to start up mines that Hamian, the Mastersmith, is interested in. Saneter points out to us that Toric is not supposed to be officially trading with anyone in the North, but ultimately decides not to report on that or the importation of people to the South. 

_[We shouldn't judge Saneter too harshly, except for the part where, as it turns out, Saneter is pretty incompetent at his job. Because he's supposed to be feeding information back to Robinton so that they can keep an eye on Toric and make sure he's not getting too far out of line.]_

Sharra collects messages from the Weyrs, and messages from family, who are not all going to come join Toric in the South. Sharra asks if being officially confirmed as a Lord would help, and Hamian says now isn't the time for making a fuss, as Lord Meron is dying, and tries to turn aside the conversation to the people who came - a couple of Mastercrafters. Sharra gives him the side-eye about any insinuations that they're marriage material, and Hamian reminds himself that "Southern Hold women marry when and where they choose." If that dictate extended to everyone in the Hold, that would be a rather radical choice compared to the rest of Pern. Of course, that would also mean most women have a chance of providing for themselves, which doesn't seem as likely.

During the welcome feast, Toric takes Saneter aside and asks him about the quality of the people arriving from the north.

> "Any murderers in this lot, Saneter?"  
>  [...]  
>  "Only one," Saneter replied, "and he claimed self-defense." The harper was not convinced, having spotted the rather surly-looking fellow off to one side, shunned by other passengers. "Fifteen were apprentice-level, and two more got as far as journeymen in their crafts, and were turned out of their places for constant pilfering and theft; one was caught selling Crafthall goods at a third of their worth."  
>  Toric nodded. He was desperate enough to take any help to clear Southern lands, even to the extent of circumventing the Benden Weyrleaders' restriction on any intercourse between the interdicted Southern Weyr and Hold. So Toric was smuggling people in from the North. Some desperate holdless folk heard whispers that he would not turn them away from the Southern shores, but he was getting too many useless folk for his trusted settlers to absorb quietly. He needed more skilled men, trained in hold and hall management - and he had to keep his illicit settlers from the [time-shifteds'] notice.  
>  "Two were caught stealing unmarked herdbeasts. There are, however, some honest settlers," Saneter continued, hurrying on to the good news. Four couples of good crafts, and nine singles of various backgrounds, some of them with very good recommendations. Haiman vouches for four of the men and two of the women. Toric, I'll say it now and get it off my chest: you should apply to the Masterharper."  
>  Toric snorted. "He'd tell Benden-"  
>  "And the Benden Weyrleaders, if you approached them with Master Robinton, would be the first to assist you. [...] some young, eager, **trained** holder sons who know they're not going to get any place north during a Pass would certainly see the advantages to coming south. Even if we have to sneak them in when the [time-shifted] aren't looking."

First, I can't tell whether guild price-fixing is spread to be a feature or a bug of this Randian paradise. Either way, though, it seems to be an accepted thing at this point, and we're probably supposed to believe that everyone with talent for creating ends up in a Crafthall somewhere, assuming they're a dude. Like how everyone with an affinity for dragons is supposed to end up in a Weyr.

Also, must be nice to be able to go back to previous time periods and show off that the ideas you had earlier were totally planned out in advance by others, like sending all the second and later sons out to Southern to either survive or die and thus remove pressure on the North.

For as progressive as Toric might appear, he's still more than ready to work everyone to the ends of existence, and Saneter thinks about how he still has some traditional views, including the belief that he gets to dispose of his sisters to marriage in whatever way he deems fit. 

And then there's a couple paragraphs about a dragonless man named Giron (who had been referred to earlier, in a skipped-over section, as G'ron when the accident that made him comatose and sent his dragon into suicide was talked about) who was supposed to go to Southern, dumping ground for the unwanted, but seeing dragons in the air caused him to run away from his escort into the hills. So now we know where Thella will find her Lieutenant, and also that he's profoundly mentally ill from having had his draconic bond severed. But only after a couple paragraphs, we're back to Sharra using a legit excuse of supplying numbweed to get out of the Hold and go do stuff. Ramala, one of the women of the Hold, goes along with her to help. Here's how she's described:

> Ramala was a quiet woman, competent, perceptive, and gifted with all the attributes Sharra knew herself to be deficient in, especially patience. Ramala was not a pretty woman but she exuded am indefinable air that caused people to turn to her for advice and help. Sharra did not know much about Ramala's past - except that she had been in a Healer Hall in Nerat before she came to Southern; the other woman had bought her own place in Southern, and Toric had seen such worth in her that he had invited her to join him permanently in his hall. Ramala never complained, but Sharra could quite easily see how she might like a short break.

Remember, though, that Brekke is in the North and is the one requesting the numbweed, or is might be forgiven for thinking that she had teleported and changed her name. Or that someone else's genetic program successfully has been turning out clones.

Also, could we please not keep with the part where a woman can either be pretty or competent? There has to be a beautiful headwoman or Lady Holder somewhere running their place with competence and iron will. (Because Weyrwomen can be beautiful, but they generally don't do day to day operations. And many Lady Holders that we've met still follow the dichotomy.)

Sharra packs and sails with others. And we have a mention of shipfish (this can't be the first mention of them, can it?), who are "flipping and careering and generally making a show of themselves to the delight of the passengers." So the dolphins survived, clearly, although the technology for communicating between humans and dolphins has been lost. There's clearly going to be a long conversation between the two species once Pern recovers the technology to reopen the channels.

After a curse (and regret) of the time-shifted that put Southern in its current situation, Sharra goes off to get numbweed, discovers Piemur, and evaluates him as a potential candidate to hold under Toric while they gather herbs. Her opinion of him, once they're done, is that Piemur is a missing Craft apprentice from a major hold that would work out exceedingly well as either her apprentice or as a shining example for Toric to hold up as what kind of person he wants in a Southern holder. Once they get back (and Sharra recognizes Menolly's ship in the harbor on the way in), Sharra helps sneak Stupid in, Piemur sees the new drum and identifies himself, and there is the reunion at the end of Dragondrums. Which ends the chapter, with Toric disavowing the entire adventure and everyone at Southern thinking Piemur is a good match for the South.

To be utterly crude at this point, what was the actual fucking point of this chapter other than the material about Giron? If we wanted to spend time in the Harper Hall trilogy, we'd _go read the Harper Hall trilogy_. And the chapter stops at the end of the books, too, so it's not like any new information has come, other than more details of the plan Toric put in place, a plan that was already known to everyone involved. This is a useless chapter and probably could be scrapped without issue. Out of the three chapters so far, only the parts that eventually cross with Thella seem to have any significance to the overall plot and advance the narrative. These flashbacks are building an entire chapter to insert one or two things that are likely to become useful later. It's padding. So, for that reason, the whole chapter gets a whatfruit.

_[Have a cocowhat for all of this.]_

See you next week, when we hopefully get back to the actual plot.


	5. A Disjointed Plot

Last time, we spent a full chapter rehashing Dragondrums from the perspective of the Southern Hold, so that a few paragraphs could be spent on how Giron got away and we could see that there are dolphins ("shipfish") around there.

Oh, good. This chapter has Thella.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Four: Content Notes: Abuse, Murder**

(The time marker for this chapter is rather vague, just Present Pass 12. Presumably, this is after 02.04 in Chapter Two.)

The action picks up with Thella and seventeen raiders arriving at their destination. Paragraph two mentions Asgenar's foresters, so we can situate our temporal marker as toward the end of the short story we just read. If this is also a filler chapter, that's going to end poorly. Thing is, the blurb at the front of the book is Giron's threat to Aramina, so we're going to have to go through it.

Also, by the end of the second paragraph, Thella has threatened all the people she is with by flipping a knife idly and saying she'll feed anyone to Dushik that steals anything other than the target stuff. Considering what kind of patriarchal nightmare Pern is, maybe this is necessary for continued survival, but it doesn't inspire a lot of feelings that Thella is a competent leader. 

Readis, from Chapter One's trader group, is Thella's contact that informs her of caravan movements. (Jayge _was_ a decoy protagonist.) _[Almost. He does actually turn out to be a protagonist.]_ The narrative tells us Thella has no compulsions about stealing Craft messages from their sleeping couriers, and that she understands drum code, since she's a Holder daughter. This further cements the idea that drum code is really meant to be a way for aristocrats and crafters to communicate, rather than some sort of trade secret for the Harper craft.

Thella outlines the plan, involving using the Threadfall scheduled for today as cover, then sneaking in and stealing their beasts when the ground crews go out. She also commits a capital Pernese sin by referring to Asgenar without his title, a disrespect of tradition she encourages in her men as well. Even though she used the title earlier in the plan. Some habits need encouraging, I suppose.

Thella has also fully graduated from "woman who wants a fair shake and some autonomy" to "evil villain" or at least "thrill seeker".

> And to think that once she would have settled for having a Hold of her own, to be acknowledged by the Conclave as a Lady Holder in her own right. So much had changed since she met Dushik. She had found far more to excite her: the thrill of planning and executing a raid, and taking exactly what she had set out to acquire, but no more. Success inspired her to set more hazardous goals, more difficult puzzles. [...Dushik snores...]  
>  Since that Gather day she had found a fast more satisfying challenge: choosing victims instead of being one. When she and Dushik had returned to the Gather tents to hire some carefully selected holdless men and women, she had already begun to plan. There would be many laden runners and carts leaving the Gather, and if it all went well - and why would it not? - not all of them would reach their original destinations. She and Dushik would choose what they needed to supply her mountainhold - and the desperate holdless who hovered on the edges of Igen's Gather would bear all the blame.

Yes, we can be pretty sure at this point that Thella holds no higher ideological purpose than revenge and living the good life away from the society that wanted to dispose of her as a useless woman in a world of men. And that she's more than willing to use other people in the same lot as she had a scapegoats, having learned practically nothing from her time spent as one of the Holdless.

Right about now is when I complain about how we're _still_ seeing Pern from the perspective of the aristocracy. This seems to be a function of the world that's been built - all the really properly common people are tied to the land, slaved to a household, or wandering the world on trade routes. Yet we can't seem to sustain the perspective of the common person and make the narrative work. Even a "disgraced" aristocrat like Thella hasn't had to adjust her perspective on everything because she has turned out to be scarily competent at being a raider and leader. 

Then again, if we see who she idolizes, perhaps get competence is not very surprising at all.

> Four Turns earlier one of her men had brought her a copy of the Harper Records on Lord Fax's activities in the Western Ranges. Now there had been a man whose vision and grasp she could admire! A real pity that the man had died so early in what had promised to be a spectacular Holding. With cunning, he had outrageously taken over seven holds. Several times she had used his surprise tactics, scaling the heights of well-positioned holds and coming stealthily in through upper windows just at dawn, even the watchwher's night vision was useless. He had probably been tricked into the duel that killed him. Or good judgement had deserted him - no one challenged a dragonrider. Dragons had unusual powers, and they did not let their riders get injured. She still hoped to learn exactly what dragons did for their riders, apart from going **between** and fighting Threadfall. Giron would not talk about Weyrlife - yet. she would have to encourage him.  
>  The most depressing part of that harper account was that no one had attempted to take charge of what Fax had so ingeniously secured. Ruatha Hold had been given to a baby, Meron had taken hold of only Nabol, and the other five had been reclaimed by Bloodkin of those Fax had supplanted. Then Meron, who ought to have learned more from Fax, had become enamoured of Thella's half-sister, Kylara. Well, Kylara had not been very smart in Thella's estimation: she had lost her dragon queen. And Meron was dead, too.

So, yeah, Thella is supposed to be a villain, and I think we've overkilled that idea by now. Also, what's the point of making Thella and Kylara part of the same family, unless we're supposed to conclude that some people are just genetically disposed to villainy, or to attempted feminism. Because at this point, Fax's name is still likely spoken with a spit and a curse, as well as Meron's.

What I still don't know, even as we are treated to this fawning over Fax's techniques and ambition, is why other Holders or their children haven't tried it themselves. It clearly worked, but for the intervention of the dragonrider, and Thella isn't wrong that Fax got tricked into it. Even in this era, surely someone should be able to invade their neighbor without permanent consequence or immediate retribution. Younger sons, especially the kind that would go off to Southern, should be particularly prone to trying to invade just off the border so as to make a Hold for themselves.

Thella's thoughts drift to the question of trying to acquire fire-lizard eggs, since they would be very helpful in detecting sweep riders and other dragons in the vicinity that might spoil an otherwise perfect raid by being in the wrong place at the right time to observe and then pursue them. She remembers she decided they're not worth it, because they're too loud, based on meeting some at a Gather at Bitra.

The next few paragraphs are about the various members of Thella's crew and their strengths (and weaknesses) before it's time to move out. Thella has to threaten a few people with her whip to get them to move while Thread is ahead of them and moving away, and the delay kindles Thella's rage. Thankfully, the plan appears to go smoothly after that, and we get to see the first incarnation of Thella, Lady Holdless, at least by her own reckoning. The grain she is after is stolen without a hitch.

The next scene is Asgenar telling T'gellan that the raids his holders have been suffering are too organized and planned to be random attacks from just the holdless. Thella is too good at what she does not to attract attention from anyone who cares to look and see that the pattern points to a hold supplying itself by raiding others. Asgenar resents this, as do his tithed Holders. T'gellan suggests turning loose the holdless that Asgenar suspects aren't part of the raids and asking then to keep an eye out in the caves for anyone suspicions. Asgenar is wholeheartedly in favor of this plan, and is okay with converting some holdless to vassals to make it work. Then, the various Lords of Thella's operating space convene with Robinton, who has been receiving the reports of the stolen goods so as to make restitution. Robinton suggests sending in one of his better journeymen to try and find the group of raiders, and then the narrative informs us this has already happened. The Holders agree to this plan.

Robinton is anticipated, though, as we find Thella's agent in Bitra reporting on the meetings and that the communication towers were busy, but not using a known drum code. There are more dragonriders around, as well, and that gets Thella to decide to go to ground for a while. Readis reporting on the personnel at the meeting and warns Thella that Harpers, and especially Robinton, are srs bzns and not to underestimate their abilities to find and spread information. Thella isn't having any of it, at least not for now.

Then we switch over to Piemur seeing Haiman. I guess that's why the last chapter was needed? Haiman is giving Piemur permission to explore and survey for Toric, including potentially seeing mines and ruins along the way. Haiman thinks he has a better route to deliver ores from the mines to ports, but he needs to build some paths and know what the land and rivers are like. Piemur is along to record it all.

Piemur has also done reasonably well with his responsibilities in the south.

> He had been diligent, too, because Toric was a totally different personality than Master Robinton, Master Shonagar, or Master Domick and his drum tower masters. Piemur had felt Toric's hard hand once and took great care not to feel it again. He knew that the Southerner was very ambitious, far more than anyone - except possibly Master Robinton - knew.  
>  [...the Southern Continent is vast and beautiful...]  
>  Soon Piemur's first loyalty to the Harper Hall was going to come into abrupt conflict with his sneaking admiration for Toric's ambitions. Or the ambitions of someone like Lord Groghe, who had that mess of sons to settle, or Corman, who had nine. If they found out how much good land was available, they might even defy Benden's orders. Saneter kept telling Piemur that Master Robinton was well-informed of all Toric's doing, but Piemur was beginning to wonder if Saneter really **knew**!

If by well, we mean "works under the threat of abuse from Toric", that is. And from what we experienced in Dragondrums, getting beat is nothing new or exciting for Piemur, based on his experiences in the Harper Hall.

I'm not quite understanding why everyone seems to have this admiration for Toric, too the point where their other loyalties are compromised. He seems to be a bog-standard greedy Lord Holder who's not above using whatever is at his disposal to get his way, including threats, intimidation, and abuse. This shouldn't be any sort of special power or ability to influence people. Of course, since Pern is supposed to be a Randian paradise, perhaps ambition is prized as a universal good, even when that ambition has lots of very negative things that go along with it.

The last part of this entire bit is Piemur seeing "two huge spotted felines" sunning themselves on an island. So Ted's work still survives and thrives many generations later.

Before the chapter finishes, though, we switch back to Thella getting information that one of the people in the caverns can hear dragons, and this would be just the thing Thella needs to avoid the dragonriders without the need for noisy fire-lizards. There's a bit of casual leering in a digression from the describing:

> "The ma's still a looker, got big -" Hastily he caught himself, realizing he spoke to a well-endowed woman. "Fax did like a good piece to warm his furs. If the ma was Ruathan Bloodline like she claims, it could be in the Blood for the girl to hear dragons. The Benden Weyrwoman's Ruathan, you know."

Because we needed to be reminded at this point that Thella is conventionally attractive, and therefore evil? Because she's already been tied in pretty firmly with the family of Kylara thing.

This is a pattern, still - conventionally attractive women are almost always villainous, and women who aren't manage to be heroic or protagonist-y. There's a blinkered spot in the writing here.

The chapter finishes with Thella learning the details of Aramina and where she is, then having Dushik kill the "deaf" man informing on Aramina. "If deaf men could tell tales, dead men would not. Dushik obliged her, as always."

And that's how the chapter ends, with Thella violating another of the Evil Overlord's requirements by killing an underling that has provided highly useful information because the smell was getting to her. She's not going to be a successful anything if she keeps killing the competent ones.


	6. The Girl Who Heard Dragons

Last chapter, we followed Thella as she raided a hold in Asgenar's domain, took a short break to follow Piemur as he expressed admiration for Toric's otherwise unremarkable ambition and abusive tendencies, and then returned to Thella as she learned about Aramina and then killed the informant that brought her the information. There's no reason to believe that Thella is actually any sort of competent administrator at all or even a competent leader of raiders.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Five: Content Notes: Attempted Child Abduction, Verbal Abuse**

(Present Pass 12, Igen and Lemos Holds)

Hooray, we stick with the same person through a second chapter! It's Thella, and she's pissed that someone has blocked up the secret entrance to an Igen cavern. It's not done well, as the "hardset" (cement) holding the stone in place crumbles with some prodding from Giron's sword. (Is it cement? Or something like quicklime that would hold until poked strongly?) Not too soon after, Thella and Giron see Aramina. Thella isn't impressed at how Aramina looks, but also wants proof, because Aramina is the wrong age to be kidnapped and brainwashed and too young to be bribed appropriately.

Thella overhears, as she heads for breakfast, that the local Lady is sending healers and food rations to help the holdless, and so resolves that this hold can be burgled more often, since they have resources to spare. Her best informant, who turns out to be the seaman left behind by the captain in the prologue, notes that there are now random patrols through the cavern looking for the thieves that lifted all of the grain from Kadross Hold. They'll pay handsomely for leads on the organized band that did it, too.

Wait. Thella stole the entire harvest from a Hold for herself? Almost single-handedly ensuring that entire hold will go hungry, excepting the richest, and thus creating the holdless...huh. In the hands of a competent villain, destabilizing the society and then recruiting from the recently holdless to continue the destruction would be a brilliant plan.

Anyway, Thella is pleased that people are noticing her skill, displeased that the search is this far out, which causes her to re-evaluate whether or not to raid here. After her informant casually extorts her by dropping her name into an empty room, Thella gets information back out of him about Aramina, where she is, and the skill of her woodcarver father, then gets shooed out. So Thella goes to learn more about the family to see if she can find leverage to use against Barla and Dowell to take Aramina.

Giron returns, signaled by a soft call to announce himself and avoid getting skewered by Thella's throwing knives, with a portion of bread and soup given by charity.

> She wanted to say she did not eat dole food, that Thella, Lady Holdless, did not accept Igenish charity, but the bread looked crusty and was still warm, and the shellfish would be succulent.

I know that it's a broken record by now, but Thella's attitude manages to stay intact despite having lived for several Turns as a holdless woman herself. In many other stories, the experience of poverty is humbling. Then again, Thella hasn't really experienced poverty, either, so she hasn't had the opportunity to be humble.

Also, because I don't think I've mentioned it yet, the contradiction of Thella, Lady Holdless is one that someone should be either snickering at or asking whether Thella had all of her faculties with her to declare herself ruler of all those without rulers. Then again, it would be a brilliant gambit if you then intended to cause, say, worldwide uprisings against the system and overthrow everything. Which Thella has no intention of. This entire premise is entirely wasted. Blargh.

Anyway, Giron confirms that Aramina's got the gift, so Thella dresses as a Lady Holder from a low-ranking Hold and asks Dowell for a commission of chairs and offers up a quarter mark for sketches, and then when she comes back for the sketches, she's actually very impressed with the designs. But she feels a bit annoyed at spending too much, in her opinion, on the chairs, even as she makes sure good wood gets stolen to be provided. And tries very hard to convince Dowell and family to come live with her, but they're definitely planning on going back to their hold near Ruatha. And, as we know from The Girl Who Heard Dragons, the family leaves before Thella can get them, because Thella has to lay low while people looking to recruit to the mines and for the smiths go through the holdless population and pick up who they can, including people for Fandarel's distance-writer wire-burying project. Thella had a plan to drug the family, kidnap Aramina, threaten her to compliance, and spirit off.

_[The narrative does its best to hop over this fact, but being holdless apparently means that anyone who has decided they need drudges or grunts or any other sort of work can conscript you without your consent, and presumably, without having to pay you wages, insisting that you'll like doing this terrible and hard work in exchange for not being left outside for Thread to eat. In that particular case, I would expect a large amount of the Holdless to try and find a cave of their own to hole up in and occasionally go into town to try and collect supplies. Which is to say, I would expect, with the realities of how life is on Pern, that crime should be much more prevalent than it is, because there are, presumably, a large population of holdless who are looking at their options of "drudge" or "raider" and are probably going to have better life outcomes as "raider".]_

Thella tries to figure out where everyone went, with Giron's help, but she still has to be herself in the middle of her anger.

> Halfway back to her lair, Thella realized that she had followed Giron's orders without protest. She was furious with him, and with herself for losing control, and outraged that the meek-mouthed Dowell and his affected wife could have outguessed her. She only hoped he had taken the carved wood with him. She would have those chairs off him for his hide!  
>  [...Giron returns and they prepare pursuit..]  
>  "Watch that, Giron!" She meant both noise and rough-handling. She did not hold with needless mistreatment of animals. She would have expected better management from a dragonless man - or maybe he was revenging his loss on other animals.

Because it's an affront to her that someone who had a dragon gave orders to someone who was a Lady Holder. The animal treatment would be a better hook to hang that particular hat on.

_[Also, reading that carefully again reminds me that Thella was censured for abusing both people and animals, so she doesn't really have a leg to stand on about how other should treat their animals, and whether it's needless or not. I mean, she should, because she should be a person who recognizes and appreciates the value of good animals thanks to her breeding and aristocratic upbringing, but…]_

The pursuit begins...and we switch people again! Now we're back to Jayge, from the first chapter, who was in the same caverns but is thankfully back on the road again, away from

> the constant appeals from the Smithcrafthallers and the Telgarans to "take a hold of himself," "be useful," "learn a good craft," and "make enough credits to bank with a Bitran."

[*recordscratch*](https://freesound.org/people/luffy/sounds/3536/)

_[That very much warrants a cocowhat.]_

I mean, I probably shouldn't be throwing a Whatfruit at this. After all, we saw something like moneychangers at the Harper Gather in Dragonsinger, we have a system of currencies where any authority that wants to can issue their own marks or credit chits for their own goods, and yet there is some sort of way that their values are pegged or float against each other, and now we find out that not only are there banks (which operate profitably, generally, through usury of various sorts, a thing that has not ever been alluded to as part of the society), but the residents of Bitra Hold (descendants of that profit-seeking clear villain herself) are renowned for their ability at it. I shouldn't be surprised at this. I shouldn't. And yet, I am entirely flabbergasted that there are banks, and I want to know everything there is to know about how they work, whether there are conglomerates across the planet with branches in every Hold, whether there's an official Usurer's Craft somewhere, and whether or not the bankers have managed to buy or bribe their way into the Conclave of Lords Holder.

Once again, my model of the universe of Pern is completely kicked over by the presence of what is likely a throwaway line.

Getting back to the plot, Jayge is on his way in metal-covered wagons that can resist Thread, having wondered why his compatriots stayed behind to be functionally drudges so many Turns ago, muses on the things that are worse than Thread, and then enjoys the scenery, the woods, and gets a bit apprehensive any the presence of dragons in the sky. Even though others have been far kinder, Jayge still hasn't gotten over his first impression of dragonriders. Jayge also wishes someone could breed a beast that has all the tenacity of the herdbeasts and all the intelligence and grace of the runnerbeast. The real reason why we've switched to Jayge is so that when Thella and Giron arrive, we don't have her perspective, and thus Jayge can spot them as people not to be aided, even with their cover story of chasing thieves into the back trails. Jayge does his best to provide noncommittal, not very informative answers to Thella about where Dowell might have gone. Armald, one of the others, recognizes the people as Thella and Giron and tries to direct them in the right direction, explaining after they thunder off that they really wanted to cooperate to avoid Thella's rage coming back on them. And after they arrive, Thella and Giron leave and the narrative shifts back to them, making this change of perspective _POINTLESS_.

_[Also, since it's casually mentioned that there are wagons that can resist Thread, I want to know why they haven't already been passed down through the generations such that all trader wagons have been hardened against Thread. Admittedly, this is after the 400 year break, so I suppose we could chalk everything that makes less sense up to the fact that Thread hasn't been around for generations, but someone, somewhere, presumably, has artifacts from the past that they've been passing down.]_

So, Thella and Giron chase Dowell and family, but are delayed in their pursuit by the presence of enough dragons in the area to signal an immanent Threadfall. Which delays them further, both in the actual Fall and in the increased presence of personnel in the forests. They do find the hidden wagon, but darkness prevents Thella from investigating to find Aramina's cave. And then there's more dragonriders and mounted patrols in the area, which frustrates Thella.

> "They were looking for us! I know it," she said, cursing as she veered around a thicket. "C'mon, Giron. We'll find that girl. We'll find her. Then we'll pay back that Lilcamp trader boy. Cripple his beasts, burn the wagons. They won't get as far as the lake, you can be sure of that. I'll get him for informing on me. I'll get him!"  
>  "Lady Holdless," Giron said in such a derisive time that she paused in her furious progress. " **You'll** be got if you're not quieter moving through this forest. And look, someone's been this way recently. The bushes are broken. Let's follow the signs."

Ah, there's the snark I was hoping for. And another casual note about how Thella's temper means she should be basically without allies and otherwise paranoid that the ones she has are going to knife her when they get the chance.

_[Seriously. Thella wants to lead, but she doesn't have the temperament for it, nor the ability to recognize the value of the people who follow her, since she seems to think that the best way to do things is to kill anyone she doesn't have any more use for, which presumably would limit her recruitment abilities, once that knowledge gets around.]_

The chapter closes out with the part in The Girl Who Heard Dragons where Thella and Giron briefly have Aramina in their control, before Heth disrupts everything and the two have to flee empty-handed.


	7. Almost Filler

Last chapter...things that we have already covered in the short story came to pass, just from Thella's perspective. We have yet, really, to move into any part where another book hasn't covered the action already. Maybe now we can go forward with things and resolve the question of the Renegades.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Six: Content Notes: Murder**

(Southern Continent and Telgar, Present Pass 12)

Chapter breaks, of course, are perfect for cliffhangers, so it should surprise nobody that this chapter opens up with Toric and Mastermariner Rampesi discussing the low quality of the people coming to the south and their inability to avoid getting thrown into the water and require rescue. That, and the persistent rumor that anybody holdless that can make it to the south will be taken in by Toric and put to work. Rampesi also suggests Toric talk to Robinton to get above board on all of his deals done so far. Because Toric sees that Piemur is spending a lot of time with Sharra, which would mess up his plans. Toric asks Piemur to go back to the Harper Hall and talk to Robinton.

> "Piemur, a word with you?"  
>  "What have I done wrong?"

Does anyone else have a red flag raise in their head with this exchange? Because most people don't respond to a request to talk with a question about what has already gone wrong unless most of their previous interactions say quite clearly that Toric only wants to talk when things have gone wrong. And with previous information about Toric's tendency to abuse, Piemur's jump to try and start fixing a problem may be to stave off Toric from getting too wound up at anyone.

The conversation is pleasant, with Toric laying out to Piemur the reasons why he should go back North and talk to Robinton about getting some of the interdiction eased, and suggesting that Piemur collect his next rank so that he can replace Saneter as the Southern Hold Harper, making a substitution nobody gets suspicious about and tying Piemur to Toric's ambition even further. Piemur agrees to go, and the narrative blessedly just points out that Robinton's journey south, already covered in another book, would have unforseen consequences.

The narrative then goes over to Jayge, who is having recriminations about how he treated Thella, with this interesting thought:

> Lady Holders remained Lady Holders, just as traders remained traders.

...

No, you see, the way the titles work is that they stay with the lands, not the people. Thella may think she's still part of the peerage, and she might be able to trace her lineage to aristocrats, but Thella is quite literally Lady Holdless, the aristocrat without land. There shouldn't be any reason for anyone to think of her retaining her essential Lady status, since she has no officially registered lands or marriage to someone who has them. If Jayge is talking about Thella's attitude remaining superior and sneering to people she deems underneath her station, that construction becomes a lot more like "bitches, amirite?" Which would be totally in context for Pern!

Since Jayge's train has to hole up near a Hold for Threadfall, they offer their people as ground crew, and instead see Lord Asgenar arrive for a meeting about the raiders. Jayge listens in and hears the complaints that if the raiders would just face someone in open battle, things would be great, and the general consensus among the major Lord Holders that the raids are the work of a single group, and that they need to report back when they see suspicious people and to lock up their Holds (not that it helps, says one of the vassals). For the more remote Holds, it's suggested that if they run out a large colorful cloth onto their snow-covered ground, the dragonriders on patrol will stop by and investigate. After a couple days delay, the train rolls on, we hear that Aramina is in Benden's care, and that some of the traders are looking to possibly profit some from trading with the interdicted South. A couple days after that, in exactly the right place for an ambush, the train gets hit by Thella's raiders, including rockslides to tap the train, with several of both the train and the raiders dying in the ensuing sword, spear, and cookware fight. The raiders only leave after one of their own raises an alarm about a dragon in the sky.

The animal casualties are significant as well. Jayge is set to ride on to the nearest Hold to ask for assistance, and has a short and very angry conversation with Readis, his Bloodkin, and also one of Thella's foot soldiers, about the raid. Readis put up the false alarm about the dragon once he realized who they were hitting, but that's not going to do much in terms of getting forgiveness.

The Hold sends aid, even as they victim-blame Jayge, and his return to the train produces the sight of dragons helping the train get itself put back together. Searching the area for wounded raiders produces a cache of dead raiders instead, killed because they were wounded and Thella doesn't leave people behind who could talk. What Jayge _does_ find is a roll of paper with sketches of both Thella and her raiders and himself and the train, marked with an instruction to deliver the lot to Asgenar. Even though Readis just helped hurt them, Jayge removes his portrait from the sketches before giving it over to the Holder that came to help them out. Jayge doesn't fully understand what this means, but he does deduce that it meant there were spies in Thella's camp. Jayge is also willing to "bet a Bitran any odds that the raid had been punitive." Which it was, but again, now that Bitra Hold has been mentioned as the place where the money is, they've also inherited the likelihood of being oddsmakers and gamblers, which was Joel's purview at Landing, not Avril's. This wouldn't be so jarring if Bitra had already been established as this in several books before Dragonsdawn, when we finally learned who Bitra was and why there should be no Hold named after her at all.

Jayge tries to puzzle out why Thella went after him, since trying to wreck every train that went through would be ruinous for her, and they didn't have valuable and easily pilferable goods for her. He doesn't get any answers, and after several days, the train continues, leaving behind one wagon and twelve graves. And thus ends Chapter Six.

I...can't see a plot reason for this chapter. We already knew about spies in Thella's organization, about Piemur coming back northward and what happens there, and so we're left with an ambush being used to leave paper behind and possibly show us that Thella is evil and willing to kill anyone that angers her... which we already know. There's nothing in here that is essential, or that even looks like it might be one of Chekov's Artifacts. So far, the story of Thella has been the only novel thing in the book, but we can't seem to stick with her as the viewpoint character.

For a book that has been scrupulous about not involving dragonriders strongly in the plot (so far), the narrative has not been doing a great job of fleshing out the world that we haven't seen. This chapter is not contributing, either. It's not quite a filler book, but there's so much more that could have been done with this idea.


	8. Attempting The Plot Again

Last chapter, we spun our wheels a bit getting Piemur up toward the end of Dragondrums, and witnessed Thella raiding Jayge's caravan, killing and destroying in their wake, only leaving when Readis falsely called a dragonrider in the vicinity.

If Thella finds out, based on her previous inclinations, Readis is dead. As, it seems, is the plot. Let's see if this chapter fixes that.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Seven: Content Notes: Cavalier treatment of life**

(Lemos, Southern, Telgar, Present Pass 12)

The plot sticks with Jayge, who is beginning to feel more solid as a possible protagonist, except that he basically keeps having to react to everything happening to him instead of being able to act in any sort of manner. The train captains for the caravan strike a deal for the winter to get everything repaired and replaced in exchange for helping finish expansions and being part of the patrols looking for Thella and her raiders. Jayge talks with a man that can split wood with a thrown axe, Swacky, about the sketches and the ambush, and both quickly come to the conclusion that the ambush was planned for the train, with the idea of crushing so the wagons and creating a total party kill. Had the wagon train been arranged as it had been before, the whole thing would have been a loss. Jayge swears revenge, but Swacky tells him no and that Thella should be turned over to justice...because the line is longer than Jayge about who gets revenge.

Also, worth mentioning is this exchange:

> "How would Asgenar know what she'd steal?"  
>  " **Lord** Asgenar," Swacky corrected, tapping him smartly on the knuckles, his expression severe. "Even in your own head, boy."

We saw that same construction with Piemur back in Dragondrums, if I recall correctly. Possibly with Menolly before him. It's an interesting repetition. Admittedly, since this entire book's attempt at a concept is that the people who hold power over others can basically do whatever they want to those under them, including turning them out without cause or exploiting them into slavery, it makes sense to have it drilled into someone who has "betters" that they should always refer to them by those titles, even in their own minds. Which is why Thella encourages her renegades to break that idea in their own minds. And also might give context to the idea expressed in the past chapter about Lady Holders always being Lady Holders, because of that firm mental control. The foundations of Pern rest on that idea, of Lords and riders always being that way, even in the mind.

_[And if they made that much more of a thing with all of these people who are outside the conventional structures of Lord, Crafter, Dragonrider, that would make things more interesting! Because people who only get occasional charity at best and conscription and abuse at worst might always say titles, if they say anything at all, but they probably don't think them. And Thella, of course, is said to encourage not using titles with her raiders, and I want to know if they feel more free, or more powerful, that they're flouting the convention and there's nobody there to tell them they have to respect the aristocracy (except for Thella, of course). Or, even better, if Thella, having been told what she could not do, gave them the finger, left her title in the dust, and encourages everyone in her cooperative, dare we say, socialist, effort to do the same, then the ideology of no lords, only comrades would be reinforced by the lack of titles. Like I said, there's a sterling novel here where someone could turn a hard eye toward the established social order, and **we don't get that novel**.]_

The rest of the conversation is about the mysteries of Thella and the attackers, and the way that any caves discovered will be sealed up to try and deny Thella hiding places and supplies. Then the narrative jumps to Toric, who is entirely incensed at the most recent crop of legitimate northerners arriving on his shores. Since these are Holder sons, of course, they have an entirely different attitude toward hard work and building themselves a home. Piemur manages to play to Toric's sense of superiority and butter him up with the idea of treating the new sons no more special than anyone else, as a pseudo-revenge.

> "Let 'em go. The smart ones'll want to learn. The dumb ones'll kill themselves off."

And again, the cavalier attitude toward life on Pern manifests itself, this time through Piemur, who I would expect to have a very different point of view on the matter, considering how he was nearly killed himself by foul-tempered people at the Harper Hall. Coming from Toric, that line wouldn't bat an eye, but from Piemur, it seems very off.

After this short and somewhat pointless interlude, it's back to Asgenar, who came on with K'van, showing Larad that his sister is alive and the head of a raiding band, although they haven't yet made the connection between Aramina and why Jayge's wagon train got hit so hard. Seeing the information displayed before him, after some deciding, Larad decides to disown Thella and points out the most likely place she would be using as a base camp on his territory. K'van makes a suggestion that is sound, with an accompanying joke that would make no sense.

> "Lord Larad, might it be a good idea to send one of your fire-lizards to see if anyone's in that hold?" K'van asked. "I'm always taught not to assume anything." He chuckled. "Ass--you--me!"

So tell me, how exactly does that joke work if you only have runnerbeasts, herdbeasts, dray beasts, and other such things? I'm sure there are plenty of asses on Pern, and that some of them are donkeys, but you have to have the name, and the connection that makes calling someone an ass a derogatory thing, before you can joke about how assume makes an ass of you and me. There has to be proof that the word hasn't died off in two thousand rotations of linguistic drift and so forth. Worse, K'van makes another joke not too soon after which is linguistically and culturally perfect.

> "Dragons make useful go-betweens," K'van said in a droll voice. Asgenar stared at him for one second before he broke out in a peal of laughter. Even Larad, who was not quite as quick to see a pun, chuckled at last.

_That_ is a joke I have no problem believing exists and persists on Pern, because of all the work done to set up the idea of _between_. it makes the earlier joke that much more frustrating to have to read.

Anyway, the fire lizards are dispatched and return with an affirmative of occupation, while Larad pulls up very detailed records and maps of that possible space to attack, so as to give Asgenar every advantage. The maps are clearly Ancient construction, because the ink didn't fade from them and they're permanent, unlike the paper Asgenar had been able to produce to this point. After saying that plotting needs to happen, the narrative skips to the arrival of the fighting force to catch Thella, who knock out the sentries and get inside with the troops, only to find that Thella, Dushik, and Giron have again evaded them, and worse, set off a deadfall to bury everyone inside. The dragons are making short work of the avalanche, the soldiers have captured everyone else, and we are introduced to Robinton's inside man, Perschar. Once everyone is accounted for, Readis is also not among the captured, which disappoints Jayge. (He and Swackey were mentioned earlier as connective tissue, but otherwise not really important to the matter)

Having discovered the extent of the storage present in the Hold, the two lords, the Benden Weyrleader, and the Brown Rider Rapist agree that the best course of action is to leave the holdless bandits in this place for the winter, since they won't be able to get out, with enough supplies to last through the snowmelt, and then return in the spring.

> "I tell you what," Asgenar went on. "Let's leave them with enough to keep them going through the winter - what with the snowslide and all, I doubt they can get out, and I'm certainly not going to ask Benden dragons to give them the treat of their sordid lives. Let's see who's alive come spring."  
>  F'lar and F'nor found that solution amusing, as did the troopers, who tried to disguise their grins. At the last, a slight smile tugged at Larad's mouth, and he began to regain his usual manner.

Because the thought of leaving people who might turn on each other to gain more share of the supplies left to not starve is apparently amusing. Then again, considering what all of those involved think of the holdless, we should probably be glad they're not just hauling them out into an arena to fight each other for the chance at freedom.

Thus ends the chapter. I'm still not entirely sure what purpose Toric has at this point, since every time we see him, he's just complaining about this or that it expanding his Hold or otherwise marking time while the rest of the book chases Thella. I'm sure it will become important soon enough, perhaps if Thella attempts to escape to the South, but otherwise, Toric is just taking up space.

Thella, on the other hand, has all the right makings of a heist movie, including the daring raids and the outsmarting the dumb heroes. If only her character had more care taken with it...


	9. A Transit Chapter

Last time, there's a plot happening in Southern that nobody really knows yet, and Thella, Lady Holdless, evaded capture with her lieutenants despite the best attempts of the Lords and Benden to catch her by surprise. With one of her main strongholds captured, Thella is on the run without much for supplies or hiding places, until she can get the heat off of her and start to rebuild.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Eight: Content Notes: None**

(Telgar to Keroon's Beastmaster Hold, Present Pass 12)

The fallout from the failed raid opens the chapter - Jayge collects his pay and charges off into the wild, Perschar retires back to Nerat so as to paint less dangerous subjects, and Thella's band find themselves still in the Hold they had, under the command of Eddik, making them no longer holdless and less likely to return to Thella. We then settle on Jayge as the lead for this segment, having decided on revenge against Thella and an attempt to save Readis from her as his course of action. Sticking close to Aramina is the long term plan, but for now, Jayge tries very hard to beat Thella to Igen. He failed. Brare, the one who served Thella chowder, is already dead, so Jayge sees if he can find the secret passage to Thella's hiding place here. Nothing turns up, so he turns himself toward getting to Keroon by well-traveled means, fueling his journey with the thought of putting Thella in a pit that she can't get out of and leaving her there to die, as she screams and begs to be released. At Keroon, he signs on to help move some animals to the Beastmaster Hold, while inquiring about Thella's lieutenants. We finally get some connective tissue to the Toric story, as Jayge discovers here the regular shipments to Southern, and their unofficial nature. And then forges new shoes for his runner in a Smith's forge, waiting to see if a contact of his comes through. It does, and so Jayge gets a mare to be delivered to Benden, some money, and an escort of other runner drivers going in the same direction.

Naturally, this means it's time to switch back to Piemur and Toric. There has been some progress, maybe...

> Piemur was back at Southern and had finally cornered Toric into fulfilling his promise to let him explore freely in the South. He had arrived armed with a polite request from Master Robinton, a request that, since it bore F'lar's signet, was more of an indirect order.  
>  "I've got my journeyman's knot, I spent hours with Wansor, Terry, and that oaf of a Fortian, Benelek, so I'm qualified to keep Records that will be accurate as long as the Dawn Sisters remain in place. So you'll know, my Lord Holder-"  
>  "Don't call me that," Toric snapped, his eyes flashing so angrily that Piemur wondered if he'd overplayed his hand.

Why is Toric angry at being called a Lord Holder? It's pretty clearly what he is, with more of a claim than many, although he hasn't officially made the claim yet. (The next few lines past the quote are Piemur telling Toric what he needs to put together for when he makes that official claim.) Is it something like not wanting the title of the person he so forcefully rejected at the beginning? It is it that he doesn't want to be in the same grouping as the sons that he's taking on? With the way Toric is, I would have expected him to preen some at that address, not get pissed at it.

Also, Piemur has been getting progressively rougher around the edges than he was in Dragondrums. He had previously been characterized as clever, sometimes too clever for things, and very possessed of the wanderlust, and I still wonder whether he has an attraction to Sharra, but this Piemur is either working in the deep cover that requires almost becoming the mask, or someone took sandpaper to his characterization in this revisiting, that he's so openly contemptuous of the others he just studied under.

_[This still doesn't make sense, although some of the comments in the original suggested that this rougher characterization may have to do with how Piemur has been assigned to Toric, yet another abusive asshole, and that this contemptuous façade is his cleverness telling him how to behave around Toric to both survive and to get in close with him so he can spy on Toric. They also suggest that Piemur is mocking Toric by calling him Lord Holder, since it's a title he hasn't officially obtained yet. Which are great suggestions without support from the text in any way, but so much of these stories ahve unsupported things hanging out there, as if by now, the fans of the series are expected to have read the books, and also the extratextual materials and the pronouncements so that everyone has the same model of Pern in their head. When I set out on this, I tried very hard not to find the stuff outside the stories, because I knew it would color my perceptions once I knew. Some of it still came in, of course, where it was needed to explain something, but I tried, sometimes at length, to keep the commentary to what's actually in the books and approach it with the eyes of someone who doesn't have anything but the actual stories of Pern to work with. This conveniently also lets me sidestep some of the inaccuracies and inconsistencies that show up between the prose and the Dragonlover's Guide.]_

Also, is this the first time anyone has mentioned that dragonriders have signet rings for their communications? Doesn't that also posit the existence of wax and/or candles, which would make glow collection seem strange, unless there have been enough accidents that candles are used only for signatures, instead of for light and heat? Or ink of some sort, perhaps, for the rings to stamp a design on official documents?

_[Once we get into the Todd books, there will be a segment where two people fighting in the Archives sets a fire that burns many of the important records because they had a torch, so open flame certainly seems to be a thing that's possible, even if it doesn't seem like something that's encouraged on Pern, thanks to the apparent abundance and recharging ability of the glow funguses.]_

A few of these things get answers in the next segment. Namely, Piemur definitely has a thing for Sharra, who has him rather firmly as a friend. That's not important to Piemur, though, as he hopes that perhaps he can be useful enough to Toric to collect Sharra as a bride anyway. Piemur also has a dual purpose for exploration - both Toric and Robinton will benefit from his maps, and he knows that both Toric and the dragonriders will want as much of that land as possible. Piemur doesn't care about the politics just as long as he can explore the place forever.

> In any event, as long as Piemur got to set one foot in front of the other unto he ran out of land, he would let the disposition if it rest with others - such as the Masterharper and the Benden Weyrleaders. **They** deserved more of the South than Toric ever did. But then, Lessa had a habit of giving perfectly good Holds away.

Huh? If Piemur is talking about Ruatha, Lessa had no intention of giving it up, and it took Jaxom's birth to take that away from her. If he's talking about something else, I'm not sure we've seen it enough for it to become a habit attributed to Lessa.

In any case, the Southern segment finishes with Piemur getting permission to explore and then setting off with Stupid into the brush. Then we go over to Jayge, who has made the turn to go north to Benden, and really appreciates the mare he's escorting. After a night in a farm, Jayge encounters a hunting party of kids going after wherries, who ends up escorting him the rest of the way to the Hold, where he delivers the mare and earns his delivery fee, as well as another endorsement for his warrant of character. The hospitality of the Hold is excellent, and Jayge receives a "blatant come-on" from a journeywoman, who then also contrives to give Jayge a good feel for her breasts during the serving of the soup. If it weren't for the fact that Jayge spots someone much more interesting at the table, he might have been getting busy that night. The lady he spots is out of his league and destined for the Weyr, and as he finds out the next morning, is also the intended recipient of the horse he brought. She has him entirely tongue-tied, not that she knows how smitten he is with her. Despite the narrative being coy with her name, we have a big clue as to who she is.

> "Ah, so you'd know burden beasts better." For some reason the girl's smile was tinged with wistfulness. "We had a yoke - I called them Nudge and Shove. They did a lot of it, but they never let us down."

So, of course it's Aramina, and she's beautiful and destined for the Weyr, and possibly Thella's designs. Jayge wants to stay, but has no excuse to do so. And that brings this chapter to a close.

The problem is, this chapter is filler. There's no actual content here other than "Jayge takes a horse to Benden, and falls for Aramina. Piemur gets closer to being the Explorer of Pern." This is the second filler chapter for the book, which is not a good sign - tightening it up would probably leave more room for Thella, who is the only plot worth following at this point.


	10. Capture and Release

Last time, we dealt with a chapter that existed solely to move Jayge to Benden.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Nine: Content Notes:[Honor Before Reason](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HonorBeforeReason), Family Before Justice, Torture, PTSD**

(Benden Hold and Weyr, Present Pass 13)

We stick with Jayge through the new Turn, who is now on his way away from delivering the horse, regretting not asking the name of the beautiful black-haired girl that had taken the horse. He's having erotic dreams about her, but not the kind that are embarrassing. He figures that he'll get another chance soon enough, before spotting a campfire and going to full alert, worried about Thella. His suspicion turns out to be correct, but Thella and her associate(s) have gone on before Jayge can get anything useful. Seeing some dragons, Jayge reminisces a bit before getting up to some assumptions:

> Then it occurred to him to wonder why the dragons, known to be long-sighted, had not reacted to his presence, sprawled there as he was across the rock face. They had not seemed to be alert at all. True, he had not moved, but surely Thella and her companions were on the move! Were the dragons even watching out for her? Clearly not. Those dragonriders were so secure in their bloody Weyr, they did not bother to keep sentries, he thought in disgust. And what was to keep Thella from brazening her way right into the Weyr and making off with Aramina?

Well, normally it would be the social structure that makes dragonriders into reified demigods, but Thella has already shown more than enough signs that she considers the social structure to be in need of change, at least so that nobody can oppose her effectively. More practically, one notes that large organic death-dealers are often effective deterrents against smaller, more fragile attackers. Assuming that the dragons even needed to be called out to the fray.

As Jayge gets closer to the actual Weyr, he finds there are actually sentries posted, but he has to get into the tunnel that leads to the Weyr before any of them appear. They are unimpressed with his story of danger from Thella at first, but they do recognize the portrait of Readis.

> "This guy was here yesterday. Kin of yours?"  
>  Jayge was paralyzed for a moment with shock. "He's in Benden?"  
>  "Why should he be? He only wanted to deliver a packet of letters to Aramina, and she's in Benden Hold."  
>  "And you told him that? You smokeless weyrling, you consummate dimwit." Jayge was primed to elaborate on all the antecedents of all six guards when the oldest man suddenly held his spearpoint right against Jayge's throat.  
>  "State your business." The spearman pricked the sharp point encouragingly.

Jayge, have you forgotten that you've been trying to keep Readis out of this to at least a small degree? So not everyone knows that Readis is aligned with Thella, and thus a danger. Which means maybe you want to tamp down on insulting everyone around you for not knowing what you know?

The second time around with the guards is more convincing, and Jayge gets sent in to talk to Lessa about Thella. The runner doesn't like the tunnels, and Jayge hears sounds that remind him way too much of the avalanche that he had to deal with. In other words, Jayge, like so many other protagonists in these stories, has untreated PTSD about this incident and no counselor to talk to about it.

Jayge gawks at Benden Weyr before getting shown in, and as is consistent with everyone else, meeting Lessa is getting whammied with her Sith power.

> As Benden Weyr was an amazement to Jayge, Lessa was only slightly less of a surprise. He could feel the force of her personality as strongly as he had felt Thella's, but there all resemblance ended. Despite her slight stature, Lessa carried herself with authority, gracious but firm. She was more courteous to a trader than he had expected, and she had listened with such interest that he found himself telling her the whole story, from his first encounter with Thella and Giron, to that dawn's surveillance, and his fears, assumptions, and anxieties - with one exception. He made no mention of Readis.

*headdesk*

_[And cocowhat.]_

Not that this is somehow incredible or unbelievable, but Jayge, you just lit into the outside guards about how Readis is dangerous and needs to be stopped, and now you're in front of Lessa and you're _not telling her about him_.

> Lessa frowned just slightly, then leaned in toward Jayge, putting her small hand on his arm, strong fingers pressing in reassurance. "I do understand your concern. And I would prefer to have Aramina right here in Benden until she Impresses but ... the girl **does** hear dragons." She sighed extravagantly, then tilted her head slightly and smiled at him. Suddenly Jayge knew why so many people respected, even worshipped her, and he found herself smiling back at her, half-embarrassed by his reaction. "The conversations were driving her crazy."  
>  "Not as crazy as Thella could," Jayge heard himself saying.

The conversation shifts to the Renegades, and much to Jayge's surprise, Lessa has very recent sketches of Thella, some other man, and Readis. Jayge still has an irrational desire to try and save his uncle from Thella, and still has a willingness to see the similarities between Lessa and Thella. Lessa assures Jayge that Aramina is safe and sends him off to the kitchens to get food to go. Jayge has a petrifying encounter with Ramoth, who is much bigger than expected, but otherwise curls up for a nap, before getting his food.

And then heads back to Benden Hold so that he can stay close to Aramina and warn her about Readis. When he gets there he finds that Aramina is gone out to deal with an animal.

> "You let her leave the Hold? Shards, man, you're as mad as they are up at the Weyr! You don't know what Thella and Dushik are like! You've no idea what they're like! They mean to kill the girl!"  
>  "Now, see here, lad, leave go of me. And I don't take that kind of language from anyone." Master Conwy pulled Jayge's hands from his shirt. "You're tired, lad; you're not thinking straight. She's safe. Now you come with me, have a bath and something to eat. She'll be back shortly. Won't take more than a few hours."

During the bath, Jayge realizes the black-haired girl is really Aramina, and is a bit embarrassed at the erotic dreams he's been having of her. He doesn't have long to dwell on this, though, as Master Conwy appears at his bath to haul him out and apologize for not heeding his warning. Aramina has been kidnapped and everyone is looking for her.

Lord Raid apparently is skeptical of Jayge at first, despite Master Conwy vouching for him, telling Jayge to sit down even as he's repeating what Conwy had already said. He eventtually comes around to understand what Jayge was trying to say.

> "What exactly did you mean by your remarks, young man?"  
>  Jayge blinked to clear his eyes and tried to remember what he had last said. "I mean that if Aramina isn't conscious, she can't hear dragons. And if she can't see where she is, how can she be rescued by them?"  
>  "And how do you arrive at these conclusions?"  
>  "Thella knows she hears dragons." Jayge shrugged. "It stands to reason a clever woman like Thella would make certain Aramina had nothing to tell the dragons."  
>  "Exactly," a cold voice said. Lessa was pushing through the knot of men around Jayge. "I apologize, Jayge Lilcamp. I didn't heed your warning closely enough."

This is interesting. Jayge is allowed to be right and the person who understands Thella better than the Lords and the dragonriders. This is momentous, in that one of the merchant classes is getting an apology from both of the aristocratic classes. In previous books, I think it would have been more likely for the attempt at kidnapping to have been laughable, Thella caught, and everything to have been resolved neatly. Instead, we now have Moriarty-Thella to the Holmes-Lessa, and I hope the game stays afoot in a good way.

Jayge's conclusions about how to nullify Aramina's abilities are borne out, as Aramina, when she contacts Heth, cannot see anything and is in a small space. Jayge and the search team he is part of are cheered by the news, but not much.

The act of kidnapping Aramina is the [Moral Event Horizon](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoralEventHorizon) for Jayge regarding Readis.

> Bloodkin be damned, Jayge thought to himself as he tried to sleep - he was going to kill Readis, as well as Thella and Dushik, with his bare hands.

Because once the person you lust after is involved, all bets are off. That, too, seems to be a rule of Pern.

_[Some of it also seems to be that everything Readis has done to this point could be explained away as something that he did that wasn't specifically against his own family, including the part where he called Thella off when he realized who they were attacking, but at this point, Readis has directly attacked Jayge by attacking Aramina. Not that Readis realizes that's what he's done, but sins against family are the hardest to forgive.]_

Also, standard complaint that the word dammed wouldn't necessarily survive without the concept of hell and heaven and a judging deity, all of which Pern officially lacks. Although, being lost **between** might do as an appropriate substitute for damnation among dragonriders.

As it is, a rockslide in the third day of search hurts two of the people in his party. Because he knows it's one of Thella's modus operandi, Jayge stays to investigate while the others retreat to treat the injured. Even then, Readis is so able to surprise him and pin him so that he can't shout for help.

> "Always said you had the brains in the family, Jayge," Readis whispered in his ear. "Don't struggle. Dushik's watching somewhere nearby. We have to get down behind him, go on from the other side, and get her out of that pit before the snakes eat her alive. That's your aim, isn't it? Nod your head."  
>  [...Jayge asks why Readis is involved in this plot. He denies it. Jayge is skeptical...]  
>  "Thella has a way of making things seem rational. But throwing a young girl down a snake pit is not rational. Not rational at all. I think Thella went raving mad when the dragonriders attacked the hold. You should have heard her laughing all the way up that tunnel she made the drudges cut. I don't think you'll believe me, but I tried to stop her loosing that avalanche. Then I was stuck, trying to save Giron. He's dead, by the way. She nicked his throat that first night." Readis shuddered. "I'll show you where the girl is, and I'll help you get her out. Then I'm disappearing, and you bask in the glory of your heroic efforts."  
>  Jayge believed his uncle; believed the desperation behind the scoffing words. "Let's get her out, then."

I have to say, there has been some clear leveling up of the storytelling here compared to previous volumes. Thella is still Chaotic Evil, but she's _[Mostly]_ Competent Chaotic Evil. Readis seems okay with going along with a lot of things, but then helps Jayge out, so we're not sure whether he's a good person, a bad person, or just in it for himself. Jayge, a trader, might actually get to be the hero of the story, instead of a Lord, a Crafter, or a dragonrider. This is by far the best storyline of Pern I've seen in terms of just telling a good story. There's a lot more missed about his this story could function in the greater world, but it's still managing the plot and the action well.

Also, maybe I'm reading a bit too far into this, but I get the feeling that this seeming throwaway line from Readis about Thella's ability to convince others of things should ping Jayge's willingness to compare Lessa and Thella, and then ping back all the way to where Lessa was openly demonstrating her Sith powers, one of which was persuasion. It's really too bad that idea wasn't explored more in the earlier books, so that it could be put to maximum use here.

Finally, I don't think Thella is crazy. I think she's behaving in a consistently sociopathic and revenge-oriented way, so throwing Aramina down to the pit in spite so that nobody could have her and to begin the requisite psychological torture that would make Aramina more pliable and less willing to leave sounds entirely rational to me. Horrible, but rational.

Jayge and Readis manage to sneak the long way around Dushik and get to Aramina's pit. Lowering a rope with a glow basket attached, the two manage to haul Aramina up out of the pit. As Jayge is trying to get Aramina away from the pit, a "black shape" attacks Readis and the two of them go hurtling into the pit, screaming all the way. After a little while, some of the depth of Thella's anger reveals itself.

> He turned to her to tell her to take the glow and go first. It was only then that he realized that she was not just slimy - she was naked. Her shivering was more from the cold than from reaction or stress, and she would tear the skin from her bones crawling up that tunnel. He stripped off his jacket and thrust her arms into it. It covered her to the hips. Then he pulled off his shirt and tore it into strips to wrap around her knees and feet.

Perhaps this is my cynicism showing through, but I'm somewhat surprised Jayge didn't take a moment to ogle Aramina. Maturity in other writing, too!

In any case, as Jayge is trying to get Aramina out, Aramina is having a traumatic breakdown - she stood on the Hatching Ground, but no dragon came to her, the two strong men who came with her were effortlessly killed when she was kidnapped, and it's all over her ability to hear and call dragons. Jayge wants her to, so that they can catch a ride, but Aramina is not having any of it - and nightmares, to boot. So that she doesn't have to hear the dragons quite so loudly, or not as many of them, Aramina begs Jayge to take her to the Southern Continent. Of course, Thella, at least, is still alive, and is likely going to want to hunt Aramina until one or the other of them is dead. So it's not going to be a cakewalk, but Jayge is definitely on board.

> Well now, he might just do a bit of real trading and see if it solved Aramina's problem. So long as he went, too. He had found her! He loved her! He would help her. The Weyrs and the Holds be damned. Hold and Weyr could not provide her with safety. He could and would!

And this is how the chapter ends, with Jayge very much overestimating his abilities to protect Aramina from Thella, who has repeatedly shown herself to be resourceful, crafty, good at disguise, and utterly intent on making sure that those who cross her are punished or killed.

_[Thella is still the most competent villain in these books by a mile, which is great. I like that Anne has crafted an effective woman who gets what she's aiming for, can plan, can recruit, and otherwise be just as good, if not better, than the protagonists. That she's also temperamental and prone to rages is a negative, because we've already had more than enough villainous women who can't control their passions, who make bad decisions about who they trust and who they think is expendable or disposable, and who are looked down on by the narrative for reaching farther than their appointed station in life. We won't see anyone of Thella's caliber for the rest of the Ninth Pass. Perhaps having gotten this close to someone who could feasibly overthrow the established order, the authors decided to retreat from Competent Evil so that nobody else started getting the idea that perhaps the system needed overthrowing?]_

Admittedly, I'm still not sure what the age difference between Jayge and Aramina is, but I'm also pretty sure that Aramina, from the last age marker we had in her, is of the age where most Pernese think she could be married off without incident. (She was, what, fourteen at last knowledge?) So there's a big opportunity for way creepy behavior here that Jayge is still, remarkably, refraining from.

Since we've done something important with Thella, next chapter will definitely be all about Piemur and Toric.


	11. Yet Another Time Skip

Last chapter, Jayge first tried to warn Benden Hold and Weyr about Thella, then rescued Aramina from Thella with the help of Readis. The two of them are planning on sneaking down to Southern so that Aramina can have much fewer dragons to listen to so that she's not ultimately traumatized every time she hears communication. In a normal story, this would mean it's time for a tense chase sequence...

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter Ten: Content Notes: None**

(Southern Continent, Present Pass 15.05.22-15.08.03)

...but instead, we have a time jump of _two entire Turns_ and so there's no resolution to this problem, excepting, perhaps, as an aside somewhere.

And we're on Southern, no less, so we're back with Piemur and Toric. Toric is hiding the map of the settlements under a cover, which amuses Piemur, before the subject of why all the dragonriders, except Mardra, have gone away from the Weyr becomes the topic of discussion. Toric doesn't like how things are going.

> "My first loyalty is to my Craftmaster," Piemur replied, holding Toric's gaze. So far Piemur had managed to retain his first allegiance, warped a trifle, but unsullied.  
>  "Understood." Toric flicked his fingers in acceptance of Piemur's response. "But **my** first loyalty is not to those -- those sisters' mothers."  
>  "Understood." Piemur grinned at the description of the [time-skipped], though the incestuous implications drew a gargled protest from Saneter.  
>  [...reassurance of Toric...]  
>  "What could they be up to?" There were not that many [time-skipped] to be effective at anything: both men and dragons were old, tired, and more pathetic than dangerous. Except T'kul - lately no hold woman was safe from that womanizer.

I wonder what things Piemur has done that he considers his loyalties bent in such a way, but still intact. And while Toric thinks of it as a joke, the exile of the dragonriders to the South basically ensures the genetic isolation of the dragons, too. Unless they go off to try and participate in other mating flights, which Benden does allow them to do. Toric, for his part, swears in front of the two Harpers that he has no knowledge of what the dragonriders are up to, with Piemur and Saneter witnessing this oath and suggesting that Toric send word to Benden about the strange activity of the nearby Weyr. A few days later, both Mnementh and Ramoth arrive and sweep the Weyr, looking for the egg stolen from Benden, although nobody on the South knows this yet. Fortunately, N'ton arrives soon afterward with the news, and everyone at Southern Weyr is on eggshells, just for a few hours, until N'ton's fire-lizard delivers news of the egg's return and Lessa's complete indignation. And that Robinton's counsel was ignored and he was sent away until everyone cooled down. Toric and Piemur spend a lot of time realizing just how close to utter annihilation the South came, had the North decided to extract a scorched-earth revenge against them, and then Toric turns to the question of whether or not the Northern dragonriders would have noticed all the work Toric has done to build the South up into a powerhouse. Piemur assures him that there's no reason to believe the North was looking for that, and that things are well-camouflaged from the air.

> "What they don't know won't hurt them. I'd bide my time, Toric."  
>  "You're with me, then?"  
>  "If today didn't prove that, I don't know what will," Piemur said, cocking his head to one side. He liked Toric, admired him, but he did not entirely trust him. Which was fair. Toric did not completely trust Piemur, especially not too often in Sharra's company. Piemur had noticed how Toric tried to keep them apart; the Holder had just given Sharra her long-sought permission to go on an adventurous trip south, beyond Hamian's mines. "So, if we're back to normal tomorrow, I'd like to see what's beyond that headland east of Island River. Maybe even get as far as the cove that Menolly found when they were storm-lost." He noticed the alertness in Toric's eyes. The holder had not liked that inadvertent excursion; he had always been suspicious of just how far Menolly and the Masterharper had gone, though he could never deny that they **had** been storm-driven, and that only Menolly's sea skills had kept the small boat afloat. "A dragon can't go **between** to a place he's never seen," Piemur reminded the Southerner. "Likewise, a man can't hold what he hasn't beheld! How about it, Toric?"

That is a textbook non-answer, Piemur, and confirms to me that you are still playing a double game with Toric. And that Toric still thinks he has the ability to choose who Sharra will be paired off with. And also, Piemur, that your interest in Sharra is still far too obvious for everyone's liking.

That, and we are still retreading time periods that have been covered in other books, just from new perspectives. Which isn't wrong, necessarily, but doesn't produce a lot more of new timeline stuff. At the very least, stick with Thella and the action, until Toric's plan comes to fruition.

Anyway, the next paragraph has Piemur hacking through the underbrush and discovering a house on a coast that's not supposed to be there and way too big for anything that Toric would have let get built. Plus, colored fish nets. And canines that start barking to alert the house residents to their visitor.

Those residents turn out to be Aramina, Jayge, and their toddler child, shipwrecked on a run from Keroon Beasthold, trying to deliver beasts from Rampesi to Toric. Aramina is sure that they were dragged to the shore by shipfish (dolphins), a story that Piemur confirms and reinforces with Rampesi's accounts of shipfish rescues. Aramina and Jayge are the survivors of both the shipwreck that had Aramina the only person without a broken bone and the fire-head fever that followed that claimed the rest of their ship party. And then all the survival parts that come from being on a new continent with new diseases and plants and critters. Piemur is impressed with the settlement, and Aramina and Jayge mention they found the place rather than building it, which makes Piemur's eyes pop because he knows full well there shouldn't be anything here. So, instead, he gives advice for them to hold what they have and we get treated to descriptions of just how weird a place this is, with sand that just washes off, insulated walls, strange containers and nails, and the nets. And also,

> "I'll have to introduce you to the dogs tomorrow," Ara said. "We have them against snakes and big spotted cats."  
>  "You have them here, too?" Piemur asked eagerly. Sharra had thought those cats a local sport - she would be interested to know that they inhabited other parts of the Southern Continent.

And the predator cats survived yet again. And yet managed not, as an invasive species, to completely destroy the ecosystem.

Also, there's also a thing about how much space there is compared to the number of people.

> "More than we need right now," Ara said, swatting at Jayge affectionately when he winked at Piemur. Though her figure was not yet distorted, the harper had suspected she might be pregnant again. There was a luminous quality to her eyes and face that Sharra had told him often enhanced the beauty of a gravid woman.

Pregnancy glow is a thing, apparently, even here. I do find it interesting that it's Sharra, who has Healer training, that can recognize this. And that Piemur actually paid attention enough to this to recall it later.

Anyway, there are drinks, and conversation, and people both realizing that they're not telling the whole truth to each other, but not really doing a whole lot of anything to fix that. Piemur is ready to get into the records and learn as much as he can about the original settlement on the South, since more and more of it is being unearthed by accident, but he stays the night with Aramina, Jayge, and tiny Readis.

He is rewarded by getting the tour with them, where we learn that this is the remains of Paradise River settlement, and that there are some artifacts that survive even to the current now. Plastics, after all, do not biodegrade easily, and don't let Thread through.

> As Piemur turned it in his hand, its texture, despite the stains of age, was somehow soapy. The leaves fell open to clever illustrations so humorous that he smiled; he glanced at the words beneath them - short sentences all, and the letters, while recognizable, were absurdly big and bold. Master Arnor would never have let Harper Hall apprentices waste so much space; he taught them to write in small but legible letters, so that more could be crammed onto each page of hide.  
>  "Clearly a youngster's book," he agreed. "But no teaching song I've ever read."

The other materials are maths books with equations, and a nice plastic box to put them all in.

This is also another one of those situations where Pern is incredibly weird. Two thousand years of linguistic drift and yet the written language is recognizable? Goodness, no. Not for any script that I know of. But then again, the Harpers are charged with trying to keep the language static. (And we see how well they've done that.) And have a monoculture, perhaps, since all the people talked about in the origin stories seemed to have washed away into people who are tanned by the sun and those who aren't. Even so, things should still be moving and changing.

Piemur stays longer, having Farli map the place out mentally while he does the same on paper, and then giving Jayge and Aramina training on how to handle the fair of fire-lizards they've Impressed. Until a message arrives from Sharra telling him that Jaxom is ill with firehead at Robinton's cove. Piemur heads off, leaving the happy couple behind.

Thus ends this chapter, and if this is supposed to be the resolution to Thella, then someone has disappointed their readers horribly. Yes, babies ever after is the way things go for many of these stories, but Thella hanging in the balance is a big narrative problem. Since it took until Rescue Run to get the final resolution for Stev Kimmer, we can only hope that Thella will be faster in their plans to get captured or get Jayge and Aramina.

And that we will get to a spot that hasn't been covered by a different book some time soon. Forserious.

_[In one of the comments to the original in a previous chapter, it was suggested that this book was cobbled together from several different fragments of stories that all could have been books in their own right, but none of them actually were developed enough to stand alone, so they all got smashed together into this one. I can see where that came from, honestly, with the way that the narrative skips all over the place, but I would have liked for someone to have pointed out at some point that everything we've seen with Toric and Piemur has already been covered in another book, so there's no real reason to rehash it from another perspective in this one. Jayge, Thella, and Aramina are the actually new and interesting story here, and so someone with the ability to make suggestions and have them listened to should have gently mentioned that perhaps it would be best to ditch Toric, Piemur, and Southern, and focus on the story of Jayge, Aramina, and Thella. There could be cameos, of course, from the other characters as they interact with those three, but the interesting and new story is about these people who are away from the standard structure, with Thella getting increasingly aggravated that Jayge and Aramina are still alive and Jayge and Aramina trying to keep away from Thella and build a life for themselves, with all of this action happening essentially underneath the notice of the people that we've been following in other books up to this point. Add in some perspective about how things are very different when you've never been an aristocrat and what it's like being a disgraced aristocrat who wants to Show Them All, and you have a perfectly lovely book. Which is, again, not this one.]_


	12. Still Treading Water

Last time, we skipped ahead in time, with more of Piemur attempting to explore the South, and finally getting to go range away from Toric. Where he met Aramina and Jayge and their tiny tot Readis in the ashen remains of Paradise River Hold. I'm loath to believe that a continent change is enough to dissuade Thella from pursuing them both out of revenge, but there's plenty of places to hide in the South, so maybe that's it.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter XI: Content Notes: Sexism**

(Present Pass, 15.08.28 - 15.10.15)

The chapter starts with Saneter desperately wishing Piemur was there, as T'kul and B'zon have gone off (to their deaths, if I recall correctly), the other dragons are making a racket and there isn't a fire-lizard to be found anywhere. Which puts Toric in full panic mode, because something is happening that Benden probably needs to know about and there's no way of contacting them fast enough for it to be relevant. They both then hear the cries of dragons at the death of one of their own, and Toric rushes out to find out what happened. He's intercepted by D'ram, who is the new Weyrleader of Southern, relaying the news that we have already heard about how Salth overexerted himself in the mating flight, so basically the time of the old guard has come to a close, all hail Benden who controls all and sees all.

Toric is very pleased with this development, although he hides it well enough to adopt a neutral tone about T'kul's death. The narrative then lets us contrast his quiet ambition with Mardra's loud and public grief, which disgusts Toric because he's heard more than enough of Mardra and T'kul fighting. Toric heads back to Southern, musing on how much he needs Piemur.

Speaking of, we switch scenes to Piemur, Jaxom, and Sharra (and Ruth and fire-lizards), at the cove where Menolly and Robinton washed ashore, delivering the news of T'kul's death and Robinton's heart attack.

> "That arrogant, addlepated, insufferably egotistical, altruistic know-it-all!" Piemur shouted, springing to his feet. "He thinks Pern won't manage without his meddling, without him knowing everything that happens in every Hold and Hall on the entire planet, North and South! He won't eat properly, he doesn't rest enough, and he won't let us help him even though we could probably do the same job even better than he can because we have more sense in our left toenails than he does." He knew that Sharra and Jaxom were staring at him, but he could not stop. "He's wasteful of his strength, he never listens to anyone, even when we **try** to get him to see sense, and he's got this wild idea that only he, the Masterharper of Pern, had any idea of the destiny of Weyr, Hold, and Hall. Well, this serves him right. Maybe now he'll listen. Maybe now..."

It's nice to know how much you care, Piemur, but I'm quoting you mostly for truth, because that really is what Robinton has been doing this whole time. And getting away with it, because it's nice to have a direct line to the author and the author's designated avatars. Piemur learns of this from the information about how the dragons kept Robinton alive. He decides Sebell doesn't need to know about Jayge and Aramina at Paradise River Hold for now.

Piemur also has an opinion about the relationship between Jaxom and Sharra.

> Piemur knew that, but he just did not like the idea of Sharra and Jaxom together. Perhaps Toric saw it another way. An alliance with the Ruathan Bloodline, and a kinship with the Benden Weyrwoman, Lessa, might prove invaluable to him.  
>  [...Farli gives Piemur the missing piece of the queen egg puzzle, as the fire lizards all flock to Ruth forever...]  
>  Piemur was unhappily sure of Jaxom's feelings toward Sharra. And, knowing her as well as he did, he was dismally convinced the attraction was mutual. Either if neither of them knew it yet. Or maybe they did. But Piemur did not intend to make it easy for them. He would have to think of distractions.

And what might your reasons be for wanting them not to get together, Piemur? As you have noted, the alliance of bloodlines might be good, and would certainly help bring Toric further into a solid legitimacy argument for Southern. If that's what you're working for, then Sharra and Jaxom are a good match. But I suspect Piemur still thinks he has a chance for her. Bad Piemur.

_[Also significantly out-of-character Piemur from the mischevous scamp we met in Dragondrums. This could easily be explained with Piemur engaging in some self-reflection about how he's changed from there, and not to his liking (or maybe to his liking), because he's had to work with Toric all these many years, and Toric is a pain in the ass on a good day. And, y'know, Piemur is allowed to be jealous, and to have an attraction to Sharra, and possibly even to be someone bold (or stupid) enough to express that in Sharra's hearing and presence, even if nothing comes out of it. Or he gets told by Sharra there's no way that Toric would ever let her go to someone who wasn't a Lord to strengthen alliances with. Sulky Piemur with malevolent intent toward Jaxom is a Piemur that's turned into the bullies that tried to kill him when he was younger. Again, not an impossible characterization, but one that deserves some flagging from the narrative so that we're not confused at how someone who is delighted by exploration and is working as one of Robinton/Sebell's spies turned into this character so suddenly.]_

Jaxom's recovery is a useful excuse for delay, and so Piemur makes himself useful by helping create maps of his notes, detailing his system for measurement and observation, and telling stories.

> "Those big spotted felines, by the way," he told Sharra, "are not local to Southern. I saw them all along my way." He tapped his elongated map. "Farli always warned me soon enough to avoid a direct encounter, and I've also seen some huge canines no cook would ever want to use as a spit turner."

So we have very large dogs or wolves along with the cats that have no reason to be here? What exactly were these colonists thinking, bringing the large animals with no reason for being there? They had the opportunity to tailor their ecosystem to their liking. And yet, they seem to have brought and released things that are lethal.

_[Yes, it's Tubberman's doing. No, there shouldn't have been predator cat ova available for him to steal and experiment on in the first place. Maybe housecats, but not lions, leopards, and tigers.]_

As things go, Piemur's distractions go on long enough for the arrival of people to build Robinton's retirement home, which allows him to melt away into the thicket. He still wants to tell Sebell about Paradise River, but since he doesn't know where Sebell is, he's not going to exhaust Farli trying to find him. So Piemur sends back maps to Toric and others, and bides his time until things are complete, and takes the tour with Sharra, marveling at the craft on display, until the point in time where Robinton summons him.

Since we've actually already seen that, the scene shifts away back to Toric, who is gathering allies for a meeting with D'ram, Sebell, and N'ton. Toric is suspicious of D'ram poking into his business at the Hold. The meeting group are talking about the reestablishment of Southern, and say they want to have the dragons fly and hunt the wild game, so they won't be needing as much tithe - and they brought their own staff with them, so the ones currently attached to the Weyr can return to the Hold. Toric wonders what dragons will be able to see on hunting flights, which could spoil his plans. But also,

> He could appreciate D'ram not wanting those slatternly drudges about a freshened Weyr. He did not want them about Southern, either. But there was an easy solution for that.

Okay, so slatternly has two definitions: "untidy and dirty through habitual neglect" or "of, relating to, or characteristic of a slut or prostitute". While it's entirely possible that Toric means the first, I suspect the second is what is meant, because Pern rarely passes up the opportunity to demean women, especially sexually. Toric's solution, while unstated, isn't going to be good for the drudges, who are already treated horribly.

There's also a gift from Fandarel, a telescope (sorry, "distance-viewer") that comes along with some casual commentary about wanting to open up regular trade with the North and that the mines Toric is operating could be the sites of ancient mining as well.

> No, it was not compensation he was getting, Toric reflected. No matter how smoothly their ideas were presented, his full cooperation was expected. Those bloody [time-skipped] and that wretched queen egg had done him more damage than he had supposed! But he could make certain not to lose so much as a fingerlength of land he already held, or the riches above and below the soil. He also knew the place N'ton must have seen. Sharra had reported it to him the previous Turn. He had marked the huge lake and the three rivers that flows from it on his private map. He must be very careful. He must seem to cooperate while sending reliable men and women to hold what ought to be his.

Which will be quite difficult to do, Toric, against dragonriders. They're bigger, stronger, and much more likely to cause discord among the people. They also have the Harpers supporting them. So you are still basically trusting that you can hide your work from them, now that they are quite literally in your backyard and looking for land of their own. Good luck with that, Toric.

_[And furthermore, Toric is trusting that the dragonriders won't just laugh at his claim and send him and his holders flying with flame at their backs to remind them of who the real power on Pern is. Which is to say, Toric is thinking of the dragonriders as if they were Lords, and that's a very bad plan.]_

Realizing he's over a barrel, Toric does his best to be friendly to his visitors, and we cut back to Robinton, convening a meeting of himself, Jaxom, Sharra, Piemur, and Menolly. Robinton is ready to find more evidence of the Ancients, with a fairly detailed plan of how to do it. Piemur feeds him useful places to go looking, but keeps Paradise River from him for later. Just before their party sets out to find more things to show Robinton, Wansor and Oldive arrive. Oldive pronounces Jaxom fit for travel and lectures them on keeping Robinton alive. Wansor brings a bigger telescope with him, which they point at the Dawn Sisters and discover that they are the spaceships that brought the Ancients to the planet. Piemur is incredibly happy at this discovery, and the chapter ends with no real progress or novelty again. 

Looking at b-roll is fun and all, but I still have yet to figure out what Toric's purpose or conflict is, other than that he's been smuggling and expanding, which isn't illegal unless the dragonriders say it is. Thella's been removed from the narrative, and so there's no driving action that I can figure out for this chapter. We really need to be moving forward, because the book is about to be done.


	13. Action in the South, Finally!

Last chapter, more pieces got moved, dragons died, riders changed, and we got ever closer to the end of The White Dragon and the promise that we might actually go somewhere with this Southern plot.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter XII: Content Notes:**

(Present Pass, 15.10.19)

> "Young Lord Jaxom, with Piemur, Sharra, and Menolly, has found a vast settlement, buried under volcanic ash and dirt," D'ram announced excitedly.

**_YES!_ **

_This_ is where the story should start, after Jayge and Aramina are done with Thella. It's a little bit before the end of The White Dragon, so it's good for getting everyone back up to speed with what happened, since we've spent nearly a decade in other Passes, expanding the mythos and exploring origin stories. Now we can come back to the story at hand from a different perspective and charge ahead.

This chapter opens, after the announcement of the discovery, with Toric learning how big things really are on the South, as well as the Hold for Robinton, while hoping that he can hold Benden to promises and negotiate with Sebell about who he will and won't take for Southern, now that he's official. Sebell takes the opportunity to quote a fragment of a very old record.

> " 'When man came to Pern, he established a good Hold in the South,' " Sebell murmured, his eyes shining almost reverently, " 'but found it necessary to move north to shield.' "

Toric isn't sure he believes it, but everyone troops over to the dig site in the morning all the same. Not before we get some interesting information, though.

> "An older man needs interests that involve him in life. Don't worry, Sebell."  
>  "At least about your Master's health," Toric said sardonically. "He's got both Menolly and Sharra, hasn't he?"  
>  D'ram realized that his mention of Toric's sister had not been as circumspect as it might have been, just as he also remembered that Menolly was Sebell's wife.

Wait, when did that happen? I remember Menolly and Sebell having a fire-lizard fling, and Menolly declaring her love for Robinton, and Robinton trying to pass Sebell off on Menolly, but there appears to have been a joining while we were faffing about in the South rehashing another book! Thus, we lose an opportunity to see what sort of ceremony happens when houses get joined, or Crafters marry. It's a perfect opportunity for worldbuilding and it sailed on by.

As they circle the site, Toric reflects bitterly that he can't have the whole continent to himself and that he has to let stupid Northerners in. He recognizes that Fax failed because he tried to use fear. He thinks greed works a lot better. Past that, there's no denying the place was inhabited, but Toric thinks the Ancients were pretty stupid to have built in the shadow of the volcano and out in the open where Thread could get them. Hindsight is always perfect, Toric.

After landing, Toric joins the crew of Craftmasters and Weyrleaders with the intent of stopping encroachment on "his" continent, with a dismissive assessment of Jaxom and the project of excavation. At least until they open up a place and discover artifacts. Then Toric regrets encouraging everyone else, and excuses himself back to Southern.

The action stays with the excavation, with Piemur composing a quick message for Jayge and Aramina, describing what had been found, and gets a short reply before the fire-lizards burst in with Jaxom and Ruth and news of the discovery of the shuttles, which the fire-lizards confirm with imagery of the first settlers arriving, giving us yet more reason to believe that the fire-lizards have a collective memory that outlives each individual one. Assuming, that is, that fire-lizards aren't as long-lived as the dragons would be without the Impression bond.

Everyone, including Robinton, traipses out again, and the discovery of the maps on the walls of the rooms convinces Piemur that Toric shouldn't hold the whole continent any more.

Also, somewhere in this time, Toric has kidnapped Sharra, because the next scene starts with Toric in a fight with his other siblings over Sharra and Jaxom. Toric thinks Sharra can match better than the young Jaxom and Ruatha, the siblings think it's a good match, being to a rider, an intelligent lord, and to someone of her choice, instead of her suppressing her desires for him. Toric dismisses them all with a warning not to interfere, and summons Dorse, Jaxom's stepbrother (who was mentioned in the last chapter as a person coming south with a good recommendation, but I didn't think would become important) to stand guard over Sharra, as well as instruct his own fire-lizards in what to do with Sharra's. Satisfied that Sharra won't be going anywhere, and thinking he needs to accelerate the plan to be fully confirmed as a Lord Holder, Toric goes to bed.

The next day, Toric goes over to get Jaxom away from Sharra. And now we get to see what happened with Lessa...

> "Holder Toric," the boy said casually, over his shoulder.  
>  "Lord Jaxom," Toric replied in a drawl that made an insult of a title.  
>  Jaxom turned slowly. "Sharra tells me you do not favor an alliance with Ruatha."  
>  Toric smiled broadly. This was going to be entertaining. "No, lordling, I do not! She can do better than a table-sized Hold in the North!" He caught the Harper's surprised look.  
>  Suddenly Lessa, a hint of steel in her eyes, appeared beside Jaxom. "What did I hear, Toric?"  
>  "Holder Toric has other plans for Sharra," the boy said, more amused than aggrieved. "She can do better, it seems, than a table-sized Hold like Ruatha!"  
>  Toric would have given much to know who exactly had repeated his words to Sharra. "I mean no offense to Ruatha," he said, catching the flicker of anger in Lessa's face though her smile remained in place.  
>  "That would be most unwise, considering my pride in my Bloodline and in the present Holder of that title," the Weyrwoman said.  
>  Toric did not miss the casual tone of her voice.

Wait, hold on. Toric is mad at whomever told Sharra, because somehow that got relayed to Jaxom? When he just insulted Jaxom in front of a Harper (intentionally) and in front of Lessa (unintentionally)? Also, even though he's small and white, Ruth exists and could be used to make Toric's life a merry hell. Or bring down dragons who would help with that.

Resuming this uncomfortable situation...

> "Surely you might reconsider the matter, Toric," Robinton said, as affable as ever despite the warning in his eyes. "Such an alliance, so much desired by two young people, would have considerable advantages, I think, aligning yourself with one of the most prestigious Holds on Pern."  
>  "And be in favor with Benden," Lessa added, smiling too sweetly.  
>  Toric absently rubbed the back of his neck, trying to keep his smile in place. He felt unaccountably light-headed. The next thing he knew, Lessa had put her arm through his and was escorting him to the privacy of her mound.  
>  "I thought we were here to dig up Pern's glorious past," he said, managing a good-natured laugh. His head still swam.  
>  "There's surely no time like the present," Lessa continued, "to discuss the future. Your future."

Ah, there's that Sith Lord Lessa that I've missed for so long, giving Toric a mind-whammy to soften him up so that he can be given everything he has, but not the actual continent itself. Toric talks about what he's claimed, but, as we know, the meeting is to keep him occupied while Jaxom rescues Sharra. At which point Toric basically loses it.

> Toric felt his composure leave him. **"You!** He thrust his arm out at Jaxom, wanting to do many things at once, especially swat down that -- that -- impudent excresence. He was livid with the indignation of being under obligation to that -- that lordling! That leggy, undeveloped **boy**! He wanted to rend Jaxom limb from body, but little though the white dragon might be, he was bigger than Toric, stronger than any man, and both dam and sire were not far away. There was **nothing** Toric could do but swallow his humiliation.

And the rest of this chapter plays out as it did in The White Dragon, with Jaxom getting blessing to marry Sharra and Toric headed back to discuss the size of his actual Hold.

How nice for Toric to finally notice how outgunned he was when things finally blew up in his face with Jaxom and Sharra.

_[There's really no reason for Toric to be this mad about this match, given that it means he gains an in-law who has an in with Benden and could, actually, have helped his ambitions in major ways. Is he mad that someone got one over on him? Or is he mad that someone who he saw as his inferior because of age and body size is able to do something that he didn't approve of? It's never really determined why Toric is so mad at this. The answer appears to be "so that his quest for revenge against Benden and Jaxom will power the next book." Which is a really terrible reason, given that we're about to discover something that produces a completely different faction that Toric could (and will) align himself with instead.]_

Hooray, we've finally made it to the end of the last book in this timeline we left. That means we only have a few chapters left and we will actually start moving forward again from this point. It's time for some new content! I'm so excited.


	14. New Discoveries

Last time, we finally reached the end of The White Dragon and got to see the [Humiliation Conga Line](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumiliationCongaLine) from Toric's perspective as his plan for Sharra unraveled. Which means, hooray, new content!

...what do you mean, there's only four chapters left?

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter XIII: Content Notes:**

(Present Pass, 15.10.23)

The new material starts with Piemur and Robinton - Piemur finally mentions Paradise River Hold to Robinton, and we find out that Piemur is officially reassigned as journeyman to Cove Hold by Sebell. Considering his role in getting Toric humiliated, it's probably a self-preservation thing for Piemur. The two of them discuss all the excavation going on at Landing (which has apparently regained its name?) and how finding artifacts is great for Fandarel and Wansor to reconstruct, but not so great for Robinton, who wants more information about the culture and life of the Ancients. After a little while of Robinton complaining about being too cooped up for his own liking, both he and Piemur get a friendly dragonrider to take them to Paradise River Hold.

Which switches to Jayge's perspective as the dragon sweeps in, so that we can observe that it's a green, and Jayge judges it to be older, based on "whitened muzzle and puckering wing scars" (another contradiction to the assessment of Landing about longevity of dragons. Perhaps they show their rider's age more than their own.) He's happy to see Piemur, although a bit afraid of the other guests until Piemur reassures him that they are trustworthy.

Aramina faints. According to Jayge, it's from the shock of hearing dragon voices again, but considering that the promise from D'ram to Toric about more dragons flying over the continent, I would have thought Aramina would have more opportunities to hear dragon voices again. Even though Paradise River is pretty far away from Southern, as best I can tell, Aramina has pretty good range for hearing. That, and with fighting wings attacking Thread, I would expect the mental traffic to increase in volume, number, and tempo. I'd believe it more if it were some form of PTSD that got invoked any time dragons are near, considering how much that talent caused her stress and danger.

As it turns out, Aramina fainted for another reason.

> "Jayge," she said in a low, constricted voice, "I didn't hear her!"  
>  "You didn't?" Jayge thought to keep his voice low. "You didn't?" he repeated with more confidence. "Then why did you faint?"  
>  "Because I didn't!" In that pained reply, Aramina managed to convey her conflicting emotions to Jayge.  
>  He pulled her into his arms, rocking her gently and murmuring over and over that it was all right. It did not matter if she did not hear dragons anymore. She had no need to. And she must not be afraid. No one would censure her. She must relax and compose herself. Such a shock was not good for the baby.

Well, that's interesting. I didn't think there was a known way of suppressing the telepathic talent, or any known instances where it went away with time. Perhaps we can say that Aramina is out of practice enough, or has trained enough to be able to turn it off and on, albeit unconsciously. Then again, she also has a fair of fire-lizards of her own, trained and helpful, as we find out when everyone gets the tour. Robinton is pleased as punch to get to see all of the artifacts and buildings, and suggests sending Perschar (his spy in Thella's group) to sketch out everything here. He also offers Zair to carry messages back, which both Jayge and Aramina hesitate on, because they're not sure what their official status is. Robinton dismisses that worry with a statement that two Harper witnesses have seen they've established an excellent Hold here and so they'll happily back the claim they have to Paradise River Hold.

Which is the first time Jayge has heard the name. Aramina suggests Lilcamp Hold as an alternative, but she likes Paradise River as a name. Jayge thinks naming it after himself might be presumptuous, and asks if Robinton could find a way to bring his relatives here, so that the whole family can go to work building the Hold up into something much more impressive. Robinton offers the services of the dragon that he flew in on to get them there. They also go around and mark the boundaries, create official maps and witness them, and otherwise set Jayge and Aramina up as the people in charge of Paradise River Hold.

Robinton says he'll talk to Lessa about why Aramina can't hear dragons any more, and suggests that "moving from girlhood to womanhood" might have something to do with it, which is...a possible explanation. If it were true, though, that would suggest that either dragons or Pernese are set up in such a way that once a candidate ages out, the dragons don't take any more interest on them any more. Another legacy of Kitti Ping, perhaps.

_[Another probable explanation is that after her encounter with the terror and darkness, Aramina created a mental block so as not to hear any more dragons, and she's mostly not noticed she did it because she can rationalize that the dragons are too far away or they don't know she's there, so she doesn't have to realize that she has blocked out the dragons until there's one staring her in the face, and she doesn't hear them at all. I like that one much more than the thought that somehow, passing through puberty without getting bonded to a dragon means that you lose the ability to talk or listen to them at all. If we go the trauma route, then we don't have more issues to deal with once we get into the Todd books and start having people who retain their connections to dragons, even if they lose their own dragons.]_

The next scene is Robinton and Piemur at Landing, where Perschar is sent off to Paradise River after mentioning a curious mound that might be a multi-level building. So Robinton and Piemur go over to the Minercraftmaster in charge, Esselin, to request workers to help excavate. They are also joined by Breide, Toric's representative, who has an eidetic memory for all the contributions of all the workers for all of the excavations, and is reluctant to spare anyone at all to help, but two men are eventually freed to help the Harpers out. After pointing at a thing and telling Breide to go look over where the commotion is, the Harpers and their miners get to work trying to figure out what kind of building they have, but the "rodmen" can't provide anything useful in the hour they were given - walls and a hollow spot. Once the rodmen leave, Robinton tells Piemur to dig in the hollow spot, even though all the tools are elsewhere. With the help of branches and fire-lizards, Piemur enlarges the hole enough for both of them to go into. There's some broken glass on the floor, but there's a big discovery - maps in plastic of all the settlements the Ancients made on the South, and that give a proper scope of how big the continent is. Naturally, Robinton has Piemur help him pull all the maps off the wall and use the fire-lizards to sneak them back to Cove Hold for further study. All that's left is to act disappointed (with the assistance of an "Out to lunch" sign) and then go back and study the real things with the Benden Weyrleaders, Fort Weyrleaders, Jaxom, Lytol, Fandarel, Wansor, and Sebell.

With the usual caveat that one does not manage to keep written language any more static than spoken language over the course of two thousand years, let's see what's been unearthed.

> There were two maps of the Southern Continent, each with different legends on them: the largest one was inscribed with the ancient names and showed clearly defined areas. A second showed the terrain in great detail, including hill and plain contours, and river and ocean depths. The third and smallest continental map, the labels done in minute lettering, had superscriptions of numerals below each name. The fourth map was of "Landing" itself, with each of the squares named and other sections marked INF, HOSP, WRHSE, VET, AGRI, and SLED REP. A fifth plate, which Piemur and N'ton suggested could represent the area to the south of the grid, indicated underground caves. The last one showed several sites, one clearly labeled MONACO BAY, another the pointed peninsula just east of Cove Hold, and the third Paradise River. The wide strand along the sea on both sides was covered with figures in orange, yellow, red, blue, and green.

Okay, so in addition to the improbable that they can read the words on the page, that's five maps where there were supposedly only two, and furthermore, the odds that the systems for notation would be anything compatible in two thousand years of time, much less with as much lost knowledge as there has been in that time, is even more improbable. There should be no way that these maps are comprehensible at all, much less with the ease in which Robinton and everyone around is interpreting them.

Yes, I know, realism in a dragon story. But someone authorial brought this on themselves when they decided this wasn't just a fantasy place, but a place of science and degradation of that science over time.

In any case, Robinton and Piemur let slip Paradise River Hold's existence and that it's inhabited, and then how nice the place is, and finally, who is actually inhabiting it, which makes both Benden Weyrleaders ask for an immediate explanation of how this came to be. After all of that gets squared away, and the assembled leaders appear ready to let Jayge and Aramina Hold what they have, Wansor breaks in with the realization that the dragonless Ancients must have had flying machines, since they don't have any signs of having made trails or tracks for ground travel. Which just means more questions for everyone. Even though they have time-traveling dragons and could just jump their way back and forth to see what's going on. Lessa and Jaxom both could manage it, especially with Ruth. And if they landed in Moreta's time, she'd probably join in.

In any case, Jayge and Aramina are confirmed in their hold, which eventually means that Thella learns they're alive. And we learn that Thella is alive, but much less healthy than before.

> Her mind seethed over that now indisputable fact. Aramina had been rescued and was alive and well in the south, enjoying prestige and comfort while she, Thella, had nearly died from a noxious and debilitating infection that had left her scarred. Had either Dushik or Readis reached the appointed meeting place, she would have fared much better. As it was, it had been weeks before she had recovered from the fever.  
>  Weak and unable to focus her mind on new plans, Thella had drifted, carefully avoiding holds until she found herself a secluded valley in Nerat, where quantities of food easily gathered had somewhat restored her to health. She had been appalled at the scarring on her face and the wisps that were all that was left of her once luxuriant hair. All Thella's misfortunes could be traced back to that whelp spawned by an insignificant trader, who had prevented her from finding a miserable girl who could have made life so much more predictable.  
>  Periodically she had comforted herself with the torments Aramina would have suffered before succumbing to terror and starvation in that dark and slimy pit. She still had to settle accounts with the trader, and she thought long and pleasantly about how she would wreak her revenge on Jayge and the entire Lilcamp train.

And we're back to the Toric story being nonessential again, because Thella and Aramina and Jayge aren't done yet. Until the excavation discovers something like, say, a working interface to a computer system left behind by the original colonists, anything not involved with the Thella plot is fluff for wordcount.

In any case, the chapter finishes with Thella swearing her revenge and trying to get enough recruits to sail south. Because Thella is apparently like the mob, and Pern has no such thing as a witness protection program to help people disappear properly, instead of having let the world think they were dead. It's harder, but we know Thella will succeed eventually and there will have to be a final reckoning in the South. Maybe in the last chapter.

_[Quite rightly, the comments to the original point out that Thella's being struck by something that makes her scarred and ugly is much more narrative retribution to a villain than anything that makes sense in the story. There's no real reason to have Thella suddenly become ugly in body to match the singular focus of her obsession with revenge, which has now had fuel thrown on it because Jayge and Aramina have been made landed gentry, which was the very thing she wanted for herself, just without the pesky problem of having to be married to a man to get it. But in the same way that the narrative had to kill Kylara's dragon as punishment for sleeping with Meron, Thella has to be made ugly as punishment for trying to rise above her station. Because being without followers (except for Dushik, who she presumably would have wanted to, and probably tried to, kill repeatedly in anger over her own failures) and having to scrabble for a subsistence existence wasn't punishment enough for Thella, apparently.]_

There's going to be a certain amount of "this is all your fault, Piemur," I'm guessing, once Thella and crew appear, since Piemur is the initial reason why anybody even knows they're alive.


	15. Digging For More Artifacts

Last chapter, Piemur and Robinton excavated the communications tower of Landing and absconded with maps of the place left by the Ancients. And everyone confirmed Jayge and Aramina as the people who hold Paradise River, which alerts Thella to their presence. Thella, ravaged by a disease, gathers recruits and heads south to try and get revenge again...

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter XIV: Content Notes: Glass Ceiling Misogyny**

(Present Pass, Turns 15-17)

...but we're not going to stay with that. Instead, it's Piemur again, and in a montage of sorts as we advance two years, basically, with achievements in circumnavigation of Pern, the dangers of the Southern Continent, aided by Harper stories, drying up the land rush that would have normally happened, (of which I suspect the Conclave of Lords were more than happy to have sent off their excess sons, and possibly daughters, to die and not split their lands), and allowing small holds to be established all over the inhabitable lands there. Another Weyr is designated in the South, called Eastern Weyr, initially led by T'gellan, that also ends up being a training Weyr for new riders and a Weyr for older and convalescent riders, too. K'van takes over Southern from D'ram by succeeding at a mating flight, and D'ram retires to Cove Hold with Robinton and Lytol. Alemi, Menolly's brother, does good for himself by taking over the seahold attached to Paradise River. The excavations continue, giving Fandarel enough parts to potentially reassemble a flying sled and Robinton much hope that answers will soon be found about the Ancients and how they got to Pern.

Oh, and also, three births, all sons, all on the same day.

> According to Silvina, Menolly gave birth to Robse between one note and the next; Sharra had slightly more difficulty producing Jarrol; and Nemekke arrived, two weeks before he was due, just before midnight, Benden Weyr time. Robinton and Lytol, deciding that they were the spiritual grandfathers of Menolly's and Sharra's sons, drank to their health, and that of Brekke's second boy, with sufficient wine to have drowned all three.

Naming conventions of Pern, always interesting - Robse is clearly named after Menolly's two great loves, Jarrol is named after Jaxom and Lytol, but Nemekke is interesting - Brekke provides the tail, but I would have expected the Brown Rider Rapist to have insisted that his name be present in her son's naming.

_[It's also worth noting that two of these three children have vowels as their last letter, which is usually the sign of women, not men, which could make for a hell of a trans narrative, or some form of childhood teasing, if anyone ever bothered with showing us what educating the young actually looks like on Pern.]_

As for Piemur, he keeps busy with Robinton, with Menolly and Brekke sending him pretty girls to help with cataloging everything, although none catch his eye, partially because they're all making eyes at Robinton, who is still apparently the prettiest man in the Hold. Eventually the Cove Hold gets an annex and an expansion to house the large amounts of records generated, pieces housed, and the staff of apprentice archivists. Robinton's monomania is contrasted with the problem of his aging body and possible beginnings of senility or memory issues. The fire-lizards aren't as much help as we think, as they apparently only remember very important events in their history, like Landing, the volcanic eruption, and the stolen egg incident, because dragons flamed fire-lizards. But finally, Robinton asks the right question, the one we've been asking since the beginning.

> "They can't have kept so **few** copies!" the Harper insisted. "And we have the maps as examples of the durability of their materials -- so where are the rest?"  
>  "There were lapses in record-keeping," Lytol agreed solemnly. "We now know there must have been a terrible fire in one portion of Fort Hold's lowest level; we are also agreed that plague decimated Hall, Hold, and Weyr on three separate occasions. We may never learn our history." He seemed as resigned to that possibility as the Harper was resistant to it.

We've seen two of those plagues - Moreta/Nerilka is one, the one that broke out soon after the move north was mentioned in passing in First Fall, and that leaves us with one major plague as-yet to be discovered. That, at least, accounts for the written record being less than what it could be. Orally, if enough key Craftmasters die before passing on their knowledge, then gaps appear. It still seems like a very long time to be on the decline and not rediscovering or inventing new things, because presumably the problems that need solutions still exist.

_[The third plague, and the event that's responsible for the fire that Lytol is talking about, will be the ones we encounter in the Todd books. There's a lot of canon blending and answering unanswered questions that happen in the Todd books, and, regrettaably, they almost always come out worse for having the question answered than they would have been had the question itself been left alone. Sometimes, this is the danger of having a big fan write in your sandbox - they might have ideas about it, and they definitely want to see those ideas become canon. For most of us, that just means we write fic with our headcanon on display, but some people do get the power to make their headcanons actual canon, and that is a dangerous power, indeed.]_

Sticking with Piemur, he gets to observe an earthquake, err, earthshake, collapse the map building from dragonback, which aborts his and Robinton's plans to go digging. Back at Cove Hold, Piemur vents his frustration.

> "It's really rather simple," Piemur muttered to the girl who was passing around soup and klah. "The next time all the fire-lizards flick off in a storm, you can expect another shake."  
>  "Are you certain of your facts?" she asked skeptically.  
>  "Yes, on the basis of personal observation," Piemur replied, not certain if he liked being challenged so quickly. Then he noticed the twinkle in her eye. She was not unattractive, with a mop of very curly black hair, gray eyes, and a fine log nose -- he always noticed noses, since he regretted his own snub of a nose. "I've been in the South nearly ten Turns and that shock was nothing."  
>  "I've been here ten days, and I found that shock on settling, journeyman. I don't recognize your colors," she added, nodding at his shoulder knots.  
>  He winked at her and assumed an arrogant pose. "Cove Hold!" He was extremely proud to be one of a half-dozen entitled to wear those colors.  
>  Her reply brought the gratifying reaction he had expected. "Then you're journeyman to Master Robinton? Piemur? My grandfa mentions you frequently! I'm Jancis, Telgar Smithcrafthall journey woman."  
>  He made a disparaging sound. "You don't look like any Smithcrafter I've ever seen."  
>  A dimple flashed in her right cheek when she smiled. "That's exactly what my grandfa says," she said, snapping her fingers.  
>  "And who might your grandfa be?" Piemur asked obediently.  
>  Her smile had a touch of mischief as she turned with her tray to serve others. "Fandarel!"  
>  "Hey Jancis, come back!" Piemur shot to his feet, spilling soup over his hands.

Apparently, Piemur does like being challenged that way. He may have finally found someone that gives as good as he does. Or, perhaps, he's intrigued by this pretty woman also being a Smith, and therefore strong and capable. Either way, I think we've found a match.

_[Or perhaps he realized whose grand-daughter he just insulted, and bolts after her to try and make amends before Fandarel puts the word in Robinton's ear that Piemur needs another long journey to season his sense of discretion.]_

Robinton intercepts Piemur before he can pursue Jancis and offers him the opportunity to go examine some new underground ruins discovered when the earthshake collapsed some of what was covering them. While everyone is dithering about who should go in, Piemur shimmies down, which starts a mad scramble to follow. The discovery is lots and lots of plastic-wrapped goods and artifacts, meaning they've found the warehouse and stores. This will make more than a few people happy, especially Fandarel.

While they sit around for others to come and see it all, too, the narrative takes a shift over to Toric, who is livid that one of his Holders, Denol, has decided the island he's administering will do just fine as an independent hold. Toric is having none of this, calls forth his henchmen to go rough them up, and dispatches a message to Benden asking for support.

> "Toric," Kevelon said, "you can't expect dragonriders to take punitive action against people--"  
>  "No, no, of course not. But this Denol will soon see that he cannot maintain his position on my island!"  
>  [...Ramala arrives with word of the discovery at Landing. Toric dismisses it as unimportant....]  
>  "I want all the single men aboard the **Bay Lady** by midday, with suitable supplies of weapons, including those barbed spears we've been using against the big felines."  
>  [...Toric dispatches his messages...]  
>  Never had Toric expected to be challenged in his own Hold, and by a jumped-up drudge of a crop picker. He would pick him over, so he would!

Toric's [Berserk Button](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BerserkButton), then, is any time someone tries to take something from him he considers his. Also, a bit rich that someone who ditched a fisher hold to make his own fortune would be so disparaging of someone else trying to do the same idea. 

That said, I always did wonder what would happen when someone made this kind of claim. Since there's no police force except the dragonriders, and they don't interfere, matters of contract and who owns what apparently are settled by force of arms. I wonder if Denol has enough witnesses for their own claim, too.

_[A further complication to this is the continuning unknown state of how much metal there actually is on Pern. It was marked as resources-negiligble for the high-tech society of the FSP, which seems to have included a lot of what a 20th C. Terran reader woulld have considered precious gems and minerals, and there's been some talk of oil and coal deposits, so presumably we can reach smelting temperatures for any ores discovered, but all the descriptions so far of soldiers, armed men, wagons, and the like suggest that there's plenty of resources to be had for a world that operates on steel as its primary method of making martial might. But this isn't ever spelled out in any way, and so having big spears and mailed soldiers makes me go "and where did you get the iron for that from, anyway?" The narrative, though, hasn't really ever suggested that there's a shortage of materials to make war with, only that making war itself is the oddity on Pern, which doesn't track at all with what I know of the periods that Pern is pasticheing. War was constant in those eras, and yet we're supposed to believe that with this abundance of steel and people willing to stick the pointy end of their weapon in someone else, that the people with weapons are only deployed in defense or when someone wants to remind their vassals who their overlord is. **This makes no sense.** ]_

Having shown us where Toric will be, the action goes back to Robinton receiving the message from Toric and delivering it up to the Benden Weyrleaders, while exploration of the storehouses continues apace. Piemur gets drafted by Jancis to help with measurements, and after a little bit, and Jancis wondering how the Ancients cut stone so easily, Piemur gives in a little to his inner misogynist.

> "You haven't actually worked metal, have you?" Piemur finally blurted out, unable to contain himself any longer. She was not a fragile-looking girl, but neither did she have the bulging muscles of most make smiths he knew.

Piemur, comparing men and women on musculature is going to go nearly nowhere. If you want to know how strong she is, you should let her arm-wrestle you or something. But since Pern's other Crafts have basically said "NO GIRLS", _except the Smithcraft_ , Piemur has never had to get used to women in the Crafts. Fandarel has been taking women for his craft ever since the Benden Weyrleaders thought it was weird all the way back in the original trilogy, so really, Piemur, you should be used to women Smiths being strong.

_[What would have been a nice scene here would have been Piemur realizing that he said much the same thing to Menolly when she joined the Harper Hall and she proceeded to "accidentally" elbow him in the gut hard enough to knock the wind out of him, before explaining to him that the work of being a fisher and/or fishwife means that you develop plenty of strength, even if it doesn't show. Remembering this, and recognizing that it's a Smith he's talking to, Piemur apologizes immediately for letting his mouth run ahead of his brain so that Jancis doesn't demonstrate her strength to him in a similar way.]_

Jancis continues.

> "Yes, the Crafthall required me to, but not the heavy stuff," she answered absently, more intent on measuring the archway than on his questions. She gave him the measurements. "There's a lot more to smithing than working hot metal or glass. I know the principles of my Craft, or I'd not have walked the tables." She cocked her head at him, the dimple appearing with her grin. "Can you craft every instrument a harper plays?"  
>  "I know the principles," Piemur said with a laugh and then held up the glowbasket to see into the next chamber. "What have we here?"

And Jancis continues to give as good as she gets, so there's a clear attraction from Piemur going on. He confirms this for us with a hope to distract Jancis from their purpose.

The discovery of note in this case is a lot more records, like the evacuation plans, and some other important documents. The interesting thing here is that Jancis comments on the "funny shape to these letters", which suggests that computer printout is different enough to be odd, but not enough to be unreadable, which makes me wonder what typeface printouts came on. And again, the fact that two thousand years plus of culture hasn't drifted the written language enough to be useless is highly suspicious. To prevent the cavern from being washed out in a storm, the dragons of the Benden Weyrleaders are going to act as umbrellas. There's a bit of talk about dragons as designed creatures in very old Records over lunch, where the spoils of the morning's exploration are discussed. And that's the end of the chapter. Hooray, exploration and exposition with artifacts. And threatened war. With the Thella story still unresolved.


	16. Hurry Up, Already!

Last chapter, there was more excavation and discovery, this time with discovery of the warehouse and its accompanying stores, still shrink-wrapped. And Toric went off to smash someone he felt was taking things away from him. Yeah, that's it.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter XV: Content Notes: Sex-negativity, Ridiculous Masculinity, Patriarchal Attitudes**

(Present Pass, 17)

The chapter starts by continuing where the last left off - cataloging the discovered stores. Piemur wonders aloud whether the Ancients were clueless about Thread when they landed, because the way Landing is laid out has lots of windows, and then the clear scramble northward to caves without windows, demonstrating a deductive reasoning that many of the people more in charge than him clearly lack. They're trying to match up the markings in the storehouses with the manifests that Piemur found the first day he went into the warehouse, but soon enough, he calls a break and then disguises it as a business trip to Paradise River.

> He climbed on behind the girl, well pleased with himself. It would be perfectly legitimate for him to put his arms around her during flight.

And you're still a creep, Piemur, for arranging yourself that way and not asking Jancis's consent or opinion on the matter. Admit your crush and be willing to suffer the consequences.

_[Except that Piemur's characterization, so far, has been that he sulks and broods and tries indirect methods to get what he wants, rather than actually forthrightly admitting to anything. And that includes a lot of negging, so well done, authot, for making of the characters we are supposed to be rooting for into one of the worser examples of entitled male privilege. Piemur feels like an incel right now, and that's a terrible thing to do to one of your favorites.]_

Instead, there is bickering about the purpose and disposition of the goods in their discoveries.

> "It's one thing if they contain artifacts -- but otherwise they are being useful, efficient." He threw in that word more out of pique than as a humorous reference. "They're not being desecrated or misused. They're not inviolable. They're certainly durable."  
>  "Then you believe we should _use_ the shirts and boots and other materials in that cavern?" Jancis turned on him, her eyes flashing and her jaw set in a determined line.  
>  "If they fit, why not?"  
>  "Because it's--it's profane, that's what!"  
>  "Profane? To wear a shirt because it's a shirt and was made to cover nakedness; boots because they're boots and made for walking? I don't understand you."  
>  "It's a misuse of historical relics."  
>  "Besides the building slab, Master Fandarel's using some of those drills -- sharpest steel he's ever seen."  
>  "Grandfa is _not_ wasting them!"  
>  "These aren't being wasted, either," Piemur declared. He raised his hands up high in frustration, then brought them down smartly to his sides. "Go read the bloody carton labels! That's what you came down here to do. I'm going back to the hold. Jayge's right about the heat of the day. It affects some people's thinking."

_[What I would expect, actually, is for those things to all be sent off to their respective Mastercrafters to see if they can't be replicated, and then the replicas put out for sale as a fashion craze on Pern, because you know there are going to be people who think that being able to afford and outfit themselves in the sartorial styles of the Ancients is very much the in thing to do while also showcasing the wealth they have to be able to commission such things. Similarly for the other things, like the drills and edges - study them, see if you can glean anything from their construction, try to replicate them, or at the least, make your current things more technologically advanced. Instead, we seem to be stuck between "no touch, ever, because sacred Ancient stuff" and "it's like everything else, we should use it until it breaks" without a sensible middle position anywhere about improving your own technique through studying someone else's.]_

And there's a spat, and heat, but Piemur's wits aren't dulled enough to not notice the invading force landing on the beach and spreading themselves out. He wakes up and warns Jayge, and picks up some weapons to fight. Both Jayge and Piemur do try to fight the group of attackers, but they are overwhelmed and both knocked out, with the hope of Aramina having done as ordered and gotten herself and the kids out of the way. In the blackout, the viewpoint changes to Jayge, who comes to trussed up uncomfortably. But he does hear that Aramina escaped and that Thella has a plan to make Jayge suffer first and then die, with the knowledge that Thella has Aramina and has tortured her first. Thella also has complaints about the quality of the hired help, after they complain about how difficult it was to get by Jayge's dogs.

> "There were six of you, with swords and spears! More than enough to take a drudge slut.[...]

Here I had thought that drudge didn't need any additional bits on it to be the worst insult ever. But apparently there had to be that extra knife twist for the woman. Although we have seen men for drudges, I also suspect that the "drudge" insult is meant mostly, if not exclusively, for women, so the "slut" part is just extra on top of that.

Secondly, how exactly is it that the word "slut" survives? Promiscuity is baked into dragonrider culture, and while the Holders have a lot more invested in keeping their women from having sex outside of approved channels, I don't see that particular insult sticking around for a couple thousand years, even with a dedicated group trying to make everything static. Not to mention that it would have had to have survived long enough to be part of FSP slang before that. Language evolves.

_[Amsuingly, I point back to the presence of the world "slatternly" earlier in the piece and am glad that I am, if nothing else, at least consistent about pointing out the improbability of various terms surviving exactly as a 20th c. Terran reader would have understood them. There'ss a perfectly good example of words and phrases that would convey the idea of promiscuity, and they're all related to the dragonriders. Who, of course, can't themselves become insults or related to them, because that would ruin their pristing image all across the planet. But they're right there, perfect for the using.]_

Jayge is considering his options with regard to how to get out of his situation and some smug satisfaction that Thella's searching is not going to be in the places where Aramina is. He can't actually get out of his ropes, but good things happen to those in the favor of the narrative...

> "Easy!" a quiet voice cautioned.  
>  "V'line?"  
>  "K'van." The bronze rider was already sawing at Jayge's bonds. "Aramina yelled -- a good knack to rediscover at a moment of crisis. Heth responded. I can see why. Did Thella leave only the one guard?"  
>  [...logistics and the knowledge that Aramina is safe...]  
>  "You rescued Ara?" Jayge reeled more from relief than physical weakness.  
>  K'van steadied him, eyes twinkling. "Plucked her **out** of the trees this time -- her, Jancis, and the two children. Had to leave the canines behind."

Well, previous theory goes out the window, then. Aramina apparently still does have the knack, and it was just slowly fading into the background. I wonder what it was, then, about that particular dragon that she didn't hear them.

_[Or, if we go by the trauma block theory that older, wiser, me posited earlier, then the ability came rushing back because Aramina was back in the situation where her triggers were being stood on, and therefore she got around her block because of the stress and retraumatization happening with Thella yet again trying to kill her and Jayge._

_(And Thella's ability to recruit is a marvel, given how many of her underlings end up dead, either by her or in trying to do her work. One would think at some point, word would get around among the holdless that you do not join up with Thella unless you have a death wish, and if you find you **have** joined up with Thella, you get the fuck out as soon as an opportunity presents itself, because you don't want to get dead.)]_

Jayge requests K'van to get help in dealing with Thella. K'van _refuses_ , considering it a matter of Hold business and that fulfilling the request would be seen as interference, even as he helps get everyone unbound and back up to fighting condition. He's hoping he won't catch too much hell for what he's already done because Heth heard Aramina and that was the end of the discussion.

Then, because it's Pern, there's time spent making sure all the women and children get to safety, including Aramina.

> Aramina bristled. "I'm not running away again, Jayge Lilcamp!"  
>  "I think you'd make it a lot easier for Jayge if you were out of Thella's range," K'van said firmly. "You and the children. Let him deal with her. It's going to come to that one way or another, you know." And with that the bronze dragonrider looked Jayge squarely in the eyes.  
>  "And long overdue!" Jayge said savagely. "Go on, Aramina. She won't find me such an easy mark this time."  
>  [...the defenders get themselves ready with weapons, a second dragonrider arrives, but is prevented from joining by K'van, and Farli returns with a report of having found Alemi and his men and reported what was going on to them...]  
>  Jayge caught Aramina's hand as she gets a fishing spear. "Oh, no, my love. You will take yourself and our children as far away from here as possible. Do you understand me? There's no time to argue the point. You're going."  
>  "And Heth and I will make sure she does." K'van said unexpectedly, taking Aramina by the arm. "That much I can do."  
>  She hesitated one brief moment, then acquiesced, her shoulders drooping. "Just don't let her slip away again, Jayge. I don't ever want to be faced with this again."

Uggggggh. Your toxic masculinity is getting in the way of logic, Jayge, because Aramina is probably strong and capable of introducing Thella to Mr. Pointy based on the fact that she's been doing the work of your Hold and raising your children, too. But no, we can't have a competent heroic woman in the presence of men because Pern is all about the penis's divine right of rule. (Which is, incidentally, how this whole Thella thing started anyway.)

In any case, Jayge and his five well-armed friends try to sneak up on Thella...who has fifteen underlings that they can see. Having Aramina along would have cut the odds to almost two to one with a surprise element. Having the dragonriders along would have made it better, too, but the mounted martial force apparently chooses not to interfere on anything that doesn't directly affect them. Which makes it all the more problematic for Jayge to refuse Aramina's help, after K'van refuses - he's going to need all the help he can get!

The plan, such that it is, is to release the hounds, use them as a distraction (and possibly to do some damage) to pick off as many of Thella's men as possible, then confront her when the odds are in their favor. 

Thella also has a less than flattering description at the hands of Jayge, which could be some sort of metaphor about how her internal cruelty manifested in outward ugliness, but that would be for a different story. 

Thella's patience, such that it is, has worn thin and she orders her men to gather fellis plants and set them ablaze so as to smoke Aramina out of the trees. The first attempt is stopped by the man so ordered sprouting a knife in his back, and then Jayge orders the assault, having both humans and canines attempt as much killing as possible.

Jayge attempts to intimidate Thella using the idea of the loudness of his sword being drawn. Except that swords, when sharp, should be silent, not loud, and dragging an edge across a thing to make it be loud will dull things. Admittedly, one could easily make this mistake, since [Audible Sharpness](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AudibleSharpness) has been a trope for a very long time.

In any case, Thella and Jayge lock blades, and Thella taunts Jayge while circling him. Jayge has a small wonder as to why Thella might be doing that, but is too focused on responding to her insults to really think about it. Unfortunately for him, Jayge finds out that Thella isn't bluffing about her skill with weapons, and he only barely avoids getting killed several times, until he is able to back Thella up against a tree (lucky) and then block her attacks and wound her severely on one arm (for Armald), then the other (for the lost people and horses in the ambush), and then across the middle, for Readis.

Before he can deliver the killing blow, though, Aramina stops him, at least until Thella tries one last time to get to Aramina and Jayge runs her through to protect his wife. Thus ends Thella.

The Benden Weyrleaders arrive as soon as Threadfall ends, and both of them are immediately in K'van's face for "involving himself in a holder dispute."

_[That's a cocowhat for you, friend.]_

I'm a bit chuffed at this particular choice of language, because this entire book has been all about denying Thella the opportunity to be a Holder, mocking her for being Lady Holdless, and otherwise denying her legitimacy to achieve that office. This, in the official opinions, is not a holder dispute, because there aren't two holders opposed in it. If that was what was keeping K'van out of it, then he should have been able to charge right in without fear.

_[Seriously. For as much as Thella styled herself "Lady Holdless", there's no reason at all for anyone to acknowledge her as part of the artistocracy. Earlier in the work, when Jayge got rapped on his head for thinking of people without their titles, that shouldn't have applied to Thella, unless her association as Larad's sister still somehow hold enough sway that she should be addressed as Lady, despite having essentially renounced her claim and engaged in murder and banditry. Larad certainly would have disavowed her at the first opportunity he had, once it became clear that it was Thella, and not some nameless woman, who was engaging in all of the raids, ambushes, and destruction. It's not a holder dispute, it's someone defending themselves from bandits._

_Just by writing that, I can see where Benden might be worried about setting a precedent where if a Holder like Toric declares Donel to be a bandit and not one of his villeins, then Toric could request the assistance of dragonriders in helping clear out the "bandit" from his holding, but that sort of thing could be restricted or curtailed by requiring Toric to go through a formal process of disavowal of his villein, for said villein to make a claim that he is entitled and has ably proven the hold in his own right and therefore doesn't need Toric as his lord anymore, and then, only after the time period allowed for the castoff to make himself lord in his own right, the dragonriders could be asked to move in and remove them. But that's a process that I can see being stretched out to take Turns on end and to encourage the holders to settle the dispute themselves first. This wouldn't apply to Thella, though, as I'm pretty sure she's already had the equivalent of an INTERPOL red notice attached to her, with instructions attached that are things like "apprehend if possible, but we're not going to be super-mad at you if you just kill her outright and bring us the corpse."]_

The remainder of Thella's crew will be shipped off to be drudges for others, Thella's death is meant to be used as propaganda against someone else getting the same ideas, at least for a while, and Lessa leans hard on Aramina to come back to Benden and be a queen rider, since that hearing dragons thing is a specialty of the Ruathan bloodline, and it might pass on to her daughter, too...

That ends the chapter. It has certainly taken long enough to get Thella, but this is not the last chapter of the book, because there's apparently still something left to do after Toric is humiliated and Thella killed. (Thella is still a waste of a good villain. She was perfectly designed to expose and exploit the flaws and the problems associated with the society Pern created for itself, and instead gets wasted as greedy and vain instead of oppressed and sympathetic.)


	17. The Last Loose End

Last time, the story of Thella came to its inevitable end at the sharp end of Jayge's sword after one last attempt at revenge. With Toric brought to heel and Thella gone, and most of the others mentioned in the prologue either dead or enslaved, it doesn't seem like there's anything left to do, but then again, sometimes there's a need for a winding down.

**The Renegades of Pern: Chapter XVI: Content Notes:**

(Southern Continent, PP 17)

(The Next Day)

(This entry requires Unicode characters, otherwise it won't make sense. Most browsers have it in place, but just in case...)

Last chapter, woo! Which begins with Piemur awakening and being teased by Jancis that something exciting is going to happen today, but only after he swims, eats, and submits to ministrations. The thing itself is a blueprint describing the ad-min an-nex for a thing known as aivas. Which also has ceramic tiles and solar panels, according to the plans. Which gets Piemur in an excavating mood. But he needs Robinton's help. Who pulls a green rider to take them there, which Robinton says is enough for Piemur and Jancis, but not him, and besides, he has work to do...

> "Lessa wasted little time distancing Weyrs from our problems," the Harper said, more amused than offended. "However, you two go on. Not only is a green beneath my consequence, but I must construct a report on this matter for Sebell.

[[Recordscratch]](https://freesound.org/people/luffy/sounds/3536/)

"Beneath your consequence," you say? Let's not let our egos inflate quite so much, retired Masterharper. Whatever they would like to send you, accept gracefully.

Continuing...

> Yesterday may have broken one thorn in the sides of the Lord Holders but--" He sighed deeply. "--only one, and it behooves me to sweeten the inevitable furor. I am thankful that Jayge is confirmed as a holder. I doubt Larad, or even Asgenar, will feel that the lad exceeded his authority, but he's new to his honors. Some may feel he ought not to have killed Thella. The Telgar Bloodline is an ancient, and generally an honorable one."

_[Cocowhat Number 1.]_

Seriously, does nobody proofread the book for continuity? _Larad disowned Thella earlier in the book._ That, to me, would indicate any privileges of her bloodline would be revoked. And she's also been out marauding and committing theft and murder. Plus, hell, since it's Pern and all the Lord Holders are dudes anyway, she's a woman, so that shouldn't provide her any protection, either. I would expect the Lords Holder to essentially say, "Never liked the bitch anyway. Sorry, Larad, but it's true." That there is some sort of potential uproar about a holder killing a woman because her bloodline is older than his seems off. I might believe "jumped-up trader just offed a valuable community member and/or powerful bargaining chip for marriage," but Thella was neither of those things, either, by her own actions and words.

As best I can tell, there should be no reason for anyone to be mad about Jayge killing Thella, except perhaps Larad. Because she's family to him, even though he disowned her.

In any case, Piemur and Jancis head out, where they are met by Jaxom and Ruth, who they let in on their plans, and get help from Jaxom to excavate the solar panels. At which point, they decide to send out for Fandarel to see if he can make sense of the materials. He does, ish, but he also has the clout to round up an excavation team and get them to unearth the annex. There isn't enough time to go in before night, so Fandarel calls a halt. Jaxom heads back to Ruatha, understanding that Sharra, who is "pregnant again", will be annoyed to not be able to see for herself. (Babies ever after. Way to take a spirited woman out of the narrative there.) Ruth drops off Piemur and Jancis at Cove to report to Robinton, who is suitably impressed, and distressed that there's so much stuff to catalogue and analyze from this location that nobody will be able to accomplish it in their lifetime, and it's unlikely they'll get what they already have done by the end of this Pass. 

Jancis chides Piemur on his choice of name for Stupid as they take care of the runner. Piemur relates his story of going on walk to avoid being exiled by Toric for making eyes at Sharra, then talks Jancis through all the objections she raises about why Toric didn't want to pair up Sharra and Jaxom. When Piemur asks about himself, she teases him and then the two of them have sex, with a nice fade to the next morning after one line alluding to the part where sex is involved.

The next morning is the final stages of the excavation of the admin building and the annex. Piemur seethes that everyone has one again taken over a thing that was private and small, even though he knows that Jancis can't take precedence over Fandarel. When Fandarel and Robinton are ready to go in, Piemur demands that Jancis go first, by right if it being her hunch. The two Masters agree, and Jancis and Piemur set foot inside first. 

Right now, I should mention that there's a running theme of how Piemur believes Jancis needs to assert herself more and get what's hers, with his help. Considering whose granddaughter she is, I don't think it'll be a problem, but there is this entire world and narrative's weight looking back at her and telling her to do no such thing, unless she wants horrible consequences. Like Thella, Brekke, Mirrim, Kylara, and Lessa, y'know?

As it is, the party explores the area, and then gets into the room, where small red lights illuminate a few things, but the room itself is slowly lighting up and coming to life. Piemur can read the labeling on a light (panels charging) before it switches over to green, and notices the workstations that might have keyboards, though he has no concept of what they might be.

And then comes the big payoff.

> "That corner says 'AIVAS', Piemur said excitedly, pointing to the obvious.  
>  Robinton had turned to view the corridor walls and recognized familiar artifacts. "Charts," he said.  
>  声紋が認識されない

Oops. Sorry. What was actually said was

> Glórphost Gan Aitheantas

Sorry, universal translator is a bit fuzzy, apparently. It said

> VoicePrint non reconnu

You get the point. The book itself actually states what is said in intelligible language to the reader and then forces us to realize that the party in the room can't understand it through dialogue. Not only is it confusing, this is a great example of why writers get told "show, don't tell". Especially for what happens next, after the party and the voice talk at each other and only have a few words in common, specifically the names of Benden, Boll, Keroon, and Telgar. Eventually, it seems like there's some about of intelligibility filtering through.

> "It sounds testy, but I think I'm getting the hang of its accent. My name is Robinton. I am Masterharper of Pern. This is Fandarel, who is Mastersmith in Telgar Hold. With us are Journeywoman Jancis and Journeyman Piemur. Do you understand me?"  
>  **"Lingual shifts have occurred, Robinton. Modification of the language program is now required. Please continue to speak."**  
>  "Continue to speak?"  
>  **"Your speech patterns will be the basis for the modification. Please continue to speak."**  
>  "Well, Masterharper, you heard it," Piemur said, rapidly recovering his composure. "Here, sit down." He pulled the chair from under the desk, brushed the seat off, and made a flamboyant gesture.  
>  Master Robinton looked aggrieved as he sat. "I always thought the Harper Hall had succeeded very well at keeping the language pure and unadulterated."

_[Cocowhat Number 2.]_

...

_[Cocowhat Number 3.]_

!

_[Number 4.]_

!!!

_[And number 5.]_

Let's recap. The descendants of the colony have unearthed the system their ancestors used at Landing. Which has not been damaged enough in the intervening time, due to the ash, and therefore can spring to life again once enough power is given to it. This same system is artificially intelligent and was programmed with enough foresight and a running process to be able to scan for linguistic shifts, and _successfully_ manages, in a matter of minutes, to adjust for two thousand revolutions' worth of linguistic drift, despite the barest of shared words, and even then, not necessarily with the same accent or inflection. All hail the engineer that made this miracle. Because apparently when they built it, they could speak Koine Greek and Old English, or something.

We _also_ have (yet more) confirmation that the Harpers have been charged with the task of suppressing innovation planet-wide since the inception of the guild, by according themselves the power of keeping the language static. Suddenly, Yanus's fanatical insistence that Menolly conform and the Benden Weyrleader's insistence on TRADITION have context, and it makes them even more horrible. Robinton, you're a monster. Pern is a horrid dystopia.

_[Even gesturing at trying to keep a language static for this long is ludicrous. For 20th c. English-speakers, we can get back into about the 14th-15th c. of English and it still sounds like English to their ears, even if the words and pronunciations are much different then than they are now. But if you go back farther than that, all the way back to where you get to Old English, the stuff of Beowulf, and it's absolutely unintelligible. It's the same language, but unless you have some serious technological magic on your side, without significant training, people speaking English would be mutually unintelligible if they spoke their English at each other._

_Not to mention that somewhere along the way, for this idea to even have a dream of being true, everyone has to speak the same language planet-wide. Most works handwave this by saying there's a dialect called Basic, or Galactic Standard, or something like that, which is the, if you'll pardon the pun, lingua franca across all of the various dialects and languages spoken by member species, and sometimes, they have plots that revolve around the fact that things do not always translate well (or at all) into Basic. We already have had several different ethnic groupings in the colonists, and I doubt Red Hanrahan was the only person getting chastised for not thinking like a Pernese. All of those groups probably passed on their language and culture to their descendants, possibly in spite of the requests to become more modern and unified (despite a complete lack of that idea in the Charter or the Randian principles involved.)_

_Which is to say that AIVAS presumably knows how to speak and understand **all** of the colonists' languages, and would have had to do some serious linguistic processing to figure out which language this strange and unintelligible shift has its roots in, possibly by comparing the pronunciation of known words, like Telgar, to the words in its databases and making several educated guesses as to what might be the language in question, presumably with responses in that best guess as it goes along trying to encourage more input until it can not only be sure that it has the right language, but it has adjusted itself for the linguistic drift over all of those years. Like I said above, all hail the programming team that managed to get that module right. And that AIVAS goes through the shifts as fast as it does says there's some truly tremendous processing power going on under the hood. It would have been easier to flash instructions on a screen and see if any of those got a response, since writing script for a language is less likely to have gone through significant changes over time than speaking language. But it still would have had to cycle through all of the languages it had to see if there was a match. So, Japanese (Fusaiyuki), Irish (Hanrahan and Connell), at least one of Indian Subcontinent dialects (Andiyar who became Telgar), Tau Cetian (since Governor Boll was an offworlder), possibly a Slavic dialect or two (Benden, if "Ross Vyclav Benden" is indicative of heritage and I've guessed right), the Inuit family of languages (Sallah Telgar talked about having Alaskan history. If she was Native Alaskan, there's a chance she learned the language of her nation as well as English), Roma (because other nomads were rounded up as well), probably Chinese on principle, and so on. This is an absolutely massive handwave that's being done, to some degree, at the expense of showing how the Pernese go about solving problems, because they'll probably need everyone's expertise to figure out how to speak and/or write something that the AI can understand and build their relationship from there. Placing this discovery at the end of a book doesn't make sense, when it could be some major part of a book all by itself.]_

After introductions are made, Jancis provides the idea of what a woman speaking sounds like, and everyone learns that the Dawn Sisters are spaceships, although they don't support life at the moment, Jaxom arrives, pouts a bit that they started without him, and then Piemur finally clues Robinton in on the magnitude of what's been found.

> "You do realize, Master, that here is the key you've been hoping to find. A talking key. I think if you can just ask it the right questions, you'll find out all the answers. Even some you didn't know you needed to know."  
>  "Aivas," Master Robinton said, straightening his shoulders and directing his next remark to the green light. "Can you answer my questions?"  
>  **"That is the function of this apparatus."**  
>  "Let us begin at the beginning then, shall we?" Master Robinton asked.  
>  **"That is a correct procedure,"** Aivas replied, and what had been a dark panel suddenly became illuminated with a diagram that those in the room identified as similar to one found in the flying ship Jaxom had discovered. Only this diagram had such depth and perspective that it appeared three-dimensional, giving the awed observers the feeling that they were hovering in space, an unthinkable distance away from their sun. **"When Mankind first discovered the third planet of the sun Rukbat in the Saggitarian sector of space..."**

And that ends the book, with the AI recounting the story of Landing and the trip to Pern. _[Specifically, we're told in other material that Dragonsdawn is the story that AIVAS told to the Ninth Pass about the First Pass. Which is nonsense by itself, as at least some part of that story AIVAS could not have known, since an interface was never carried north. What the Ninth Pass could have heard was what AIVAS knew for the events that it was present, or at least monitoring communication, for.]_


End file.
